Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We’ll take breaches seriously
ELITE Irish athletes will still have to quarantine if they return from countries that are on the Irish Government’s mandatory travel list – but will be permitted to train or compete as normal.
That is the scenario devised by the Irish Department of Sport and Sport Ireland to allow the Women’s Six Nations clash between Ireland and France to go ahead in Dublin on Saturday, and for Leinster to travel to La Rochelle for the Champions Cup semifinal in under three weeks time.
Beyond that Jack Chambers, the Irish Minister of State for Sport, claimed it will allow Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls to compete in qualification events abroad for Tokyo.
“This will be done, just to be clear, on a case by case basis,” said Chambers.
“So a Paralympic athlete who is due to engage in a classification event to qualify for the Paralympics, when they return they’ll want to continue their activity, they won’t be allowed to interact with their family, they won’t be allowed to see their friends, they won’t be allowed to go to the shop.
“Their only activity will be the specific training activity and they’ll be in complete isolation outside of that for the same equivalent period as someone who is in a hotel mandatory quarantine.”
Tennis stars made headlines worldwide as they were confined to hotel rooms for 14 days ahead of the Australian Open, but Chambers confirmed elite and professional athletes who travel into Ireland will have more freedom.
“The only activity they’ll be allowed to continue is the specific sporting activity, and they’ll be in isolation outside of that,” he stressed.
“Our athletes will only be enabled to continue their specific training activity, there has to be absolute adherence to that and any breach will be taken very seriously.”