HOL OVER FOR NOW
»»Foreign travel is ‘highly unlikely for health reasons’ »»Flyers face a €2.5k fine for dodging tracking form CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: HARRIS RULES OUT SUMMER TRIPS AWAY` »»Ryanair chief executive ridicules the new measures
HOLIDAYS abroad are off for the rest of the summer and there is little chance we’ll be able to get away this year.
The Health Minister told the Irish Mirror trips to the sun before September are “highly unlikely for public health reasons”.
Simon Harris added “it won’t be today or tomorrow” before we can look forward to going on holiday again.
He also announced strict new rules for anybody coming into the country or returning home from next Thursday.
Travellers arriving into Ireland will have to fill in compulsory location forms.
It will be mandatory for everybody to give the Government their name and address while in Ireland, with verifiable contact details.
And everyone will be asked to self-isolate, with garda spot checks brought in to encourage compliance.
Anybody who refuses to fill in the new Public Health Passenger Locator forms faces a massive fine of up to €2,500 and potentially six months in prison.
The Government is deadly serious about policing our borders to try and keep coronavirus out now fatalities and infections are falling.
Last night’s death toll was 11 while the number of new cases was just over 100.
Mr Harris unveiled the details of the new regime yesterday, emphasising it will help contact tracing in the event of further infections being found.
He said: “These are extraordinary measures but they are necessary in a time of a public health crisis.
“We continue to advise everyone against non-essential travel.
“However, if a person does arrive into Ireland, they will be legally obliged to fill out this form, regardless of their nationality.
“The form will be used to facilitate a system of follow-up checks to make sure people who travel to the country are staying where they said they would.
“The form will also ensure more accurate and quicker contact tracing should we have a confirmed case on a flight or ferry coming into Ireland.
“Every measure we take is aimed at stopping the spread of Covid-19 and protecting people from this virus.” The
regulations will be signed by Minister Harris and will come into effect from Thursday. They will be reviewed on June 18.
There will be a limited number of exemptions for people such as airline workers and diplomats.
Reacting to the news, Ryanair’s Chief Executive Eddie Wilson said despite sounding like a great idea it
You can’t have a quarantine where people mix
EDDIE WILSON YESTERDAY
was “completely unimplementable”. He added: “What will happen is people will arrive in the country, they will use taxis, trains and buses to move around and they’ll already be mixing in the population.
“You can’t have a quarantine where people mix with the population unless you’re going to keep them all at the airport or the airport hotel. And the basis of being able to track people who are already mingling within the population when they arrive at an airport is not the way to go.”
Mr Wilson said he has difficulty with the fact people are being told “Ireland is closed” when other European countries such as Spain, Greece and Portugal are reopening their air travel.
He added his airline has offered to communicate data they gather from customers regarding their contact details to the HSE as a way of contact tracing if any passengers subsequently develop
Covid-19 symptoms.
Ryanair have said they aim to have 40% of their services back in the air by July 1 and plan to carry all passengers on their flights.
Mr Wilson told RTE’S Drivetime they will minimise the potential spread of Covid-19 by asking passengers to remain in their seats and use the bell if they need the loo.
He said social distancing will be “just the same on trains or any other large groups of people” who gather together.
Ryanair has no plans to check the temperatures of passengers and Mr Wilson said the best place to do this was on entry to the airport.
He added: “There will be reduced demand at the start when we get back to flying but ultimately we have to return to normal and the sensible measures we have put in place like the use of masks, lack of contact on board and getting people through airports as quick as possible is the best way to minimise spread of Covid-19.”