Aer Lingus: Rule is not necessary

AER Lingus has joined Ryanair in calling for the 14-day quarantine rule for passengers to be dropped as the airline’s top brass say it isn’t ‘necessary’.

The chief corporate affairs officer for Aer Lingus, Donal Moriarty, said the Government had an obligation to drop the quarantine restrictions on people travelling into the country.

Mr Moriarty called on the Government to follow the example of other European countries as they open up their economies again to tourism. ‘We don’t think it [quarantine] is necessary,’ he said in an interview with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta yesterday.

‘In other countries in the EU, tourism is starting up again, or

Call: Donal Moriarty they have certainty around dates when they can open again. For example, Spain is opening at the start of July, and they have no quarantine. It’s clear that we’re doing well in the fight against the coronavirus.’

The Government asked all overseas travellers arriving in Ireland between May 28 and June 18 to self-isolate for 14 days. It is mandatory for arrivals to fill out a passenger locator form stating where they will be selfisolating, with a fine of up to €2,500 for non-compliance.

Last week, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary also called for the removal of what he called ‘ineffective’ quarantine regulations.

Mr O’Leary said that the 14-day self-quarantine on passengers arriving into Ireland has ‘no basis in science or in health’ and accused the Government of playing political games.