‘Summer is not lost,’ says Leo as airlines call to ditch 14-day quarantine rule
THE Taoiseach has told prospective holidaymakers ‘the summer is not lost’ after saying he hopes air travel can resume between Ireland and other countries in a number of weeks.
Currently anyone entering the country is required to self-isolate for 14 days.
However, the Taoiseach yesterday said he foresees making the first tentative steps back to non-essential travel via socalled ‘air bridges’ with other countries who share low levels of coronavirus infection.
‘With air bridges we can lift travel requirements if people are flying to or from another country where the virus has been successfully suppressed,’ he told the Dáil.
‘This however is some weeks away and it is far too soon for anyone to book their holiday, but summer is not yet lost.’
The coronavirus death toll rose to 1,664 after a further five deaths were announced by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) yesterday.
The Government is due to review the 14-day quarantine for travellers on June 18.
Aer Lingus yesterday labelled the quarantine ‘unnecessary’ and joined Ryanair in calling for the 14-day rule to be dropped.
Corporate Affairs Officer for Aer Lingus Donal Moriarty called on the Government to follow the example of other European
Regulations are ‘ineffective’
countries as they open up their economies again to tourism.
Last week, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary branded the quarantine regulations ‘ineffective’.
Irish holidaymakers heading to Spain will not face quarantine following their arrival from July 1.
On the same date, Ryanair will resume operating up to 1,000 flights per day from Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
Greece has also said Ireland will be one of 29 destinations from which holidaymakers can visit once its tourism season restarts on July 1.
Bars, restaurants and beaches will reopen in Portugal from tomorrow, subject to public health and physical distancing rules.
There are no quarantine requirements on entry to Portugal, and Ryanair is currently listing a resumption of flights between Dublin and Faro from June 23, with a daily schedule from June 30.
However, current Covid-19 restrictions, unless revised, mean that Irish people may be prevented from travelling to Portugal on holiday, as all non-essential travel is still banned.
Speaking yesterday, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism said she believes Ireland’s requirement that people returning from abroad must self-isolate for 14 days will be reviewed soon.
Currently, anyone arriving in Ireland from another country is required to fill out a Covid-19 passenger locator form as well as self-isolate for 14 days. The only exception is for people returning from Northern Ireland.
Speaking yesterday on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Rita Marques said: ‘Other countries are opening up gradually so I expect that rule [in Ireland] will be revised soon.’
Ms Marques added that Portugal has been talking to all EU member states and she believes the EU Commission ‘will help to have a coordinated approach to the reopening of borders’.
‘We are in the third phase of opening up the economy, so the last phase is going to be in two days because the beaches will open on June 6. From that day on everything will be open, including hotels, bars and restaurants,’ she said.
Beaches will be introducing a traffic light system to tell people when the beach is at full capacity,
However, Ms Marques said observing this system is not mandatory and the government is relying on compliance.
‘It is up to them to make the decision. Nobody is going to be prevented to getting into the
‘Other countries are opening up’
beach. So far we had a very good response to the pandemic disease because people obeyed the rules,’ she said.
‘We don’t want to jeopardise anything, the huge effort that all us Portuguese people have done. But at this stage we also know that it is very important to give a confident message to everyone.’
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Portugal has had over 33,000 infections of Covid-19 and 1,447 deaths as a result.