Almost 3,000 passengers arriving in Dublin Airport did not fill out Covid location form
ALMOST a third of passengers arriving in Dublin Airport were still not filling in passenger location forms up to last week.
New data show almost 3,000 people who arrived in the airport between April 28 and May 21 did not say where they will be self-isolating for two weeks.
The vast majority (2,779) of those who did not fill out the form after arrival said they were not provided with the form by the airline they travelled with.
The Department of Justice figures showed 186 people refused to fill in the form when asked to do so by the Dublin Airport border management unit.
Another 26 people are recorded as having not filled out the form due to “language barriers”.
Yesterday, it became mandatory to tell authorities where you will be self-isolating for two weeks after you arrive in Ireland.
Passengers who refuse to fill in the form face six months in prison or a €2,500 fine.
Sinn Féin health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly, who obtained the figures through parliamentary questions, said the Government should have acted sooner on the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
“Nphet recommended that this system be put in place at their meeting on April 3 but it took more than three weeks to be implemented,” she said.
“As we reopen the economy and there is increased activity we cannot have this type of time delay again,” she added.
Ms O’Reilly said she was disappointed passengers were refusing to fill out the form given “the seriousness of the health emergency”.
However, she welcomed that it is now compulsory to tell authorities were you will be staying after arriving in
Ireland. “The Government should move immediately to publish the data about the levels of compliance when the follow-up calls are made,” she added.
Gardaí now have the power to call to addresses where people say they are self-isolating when they come to Ireland if they believe someone may not have filled out a passenger location form accurately.
Meanwhile, it has also emerged gardaí have established a “direct link” with Nphet to ensure the concerns of the force are heard when Covid-19 measures are being discussed.
In a statement, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) general secretary Pat Ennis said the link was established after he raised concerns about the impact of Nphet recommendations on the “health, welfare and work” of his members.
Mr Ennis said his members were “justifiably angry” at Nphet’s decision to abandon priority testing for them without consultation with An
Garda Síochána. “Members have been assaulted by people weaponising Covid-19 80 times since April 8.
“It is outrageous to put workers through an anxious and unnecessary wait to find out if they have been infected while doing their duty,” he said.
“While we welcome Nphet’s link to the Garda CMO, we still believe that a wider skillset is needed to include members with a background in policing and criminal justice,” Mr Ennis added.
He said that it would “make more sense” for gardaí to have more input into the decision-making process as the “crisis evolves”.