Hotel-stay rule applies to those returning for family funerals
PEOPLE who travel home for a loved one’s funeral will be forced to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks if they have arrived from a country on the ‘high risk’ list.
Under Covid rules, travellers from the 58 designated countries are required to spend a period of time in a designated accommodation after arriving into the country.
And the Irish Daily Mail can reveal that even a family bereavement will not exempt a person from mandatory quarantine.
However, a senior source said that an exception may be granted to an individual whose relative or spouse is gravely ill.
It comes as an Irish woman living in Dubai, whose mother is terminally ill, has told how she is currently looking for an exemption to travel home to Ireland so she can be with her mother.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley has said he knows of another woman who wanted to travel home from the United Arab Emirates to attend her mother’s funeral and has been refused an exemption.
Figures obtained by the Mail show that just two people have managed to avoid mandatory hotel quarantine to date following a successful appeal.
As the row continues over what states should be added to the highrisk list, 46 travellers have lodged appeals with the Government, pleading for a special exemption.
As of Wednesday evening, 39 of the appeals lodged with the Department of Justice were refused, two were granted and five are currently being processed.
While the Department would not confirm the nature of the successful appeals, it confirmed that the majority were made by people living in the United Arab Emirates.
Many people are understood to be seeking a quarantine exemption on humanitarian grounds.
Senator Dooley criticised the Government for rejecting the appeal of one woman looking to attend her mother’s funeral in Ireland. He told the Mail: ‘I spent hours trying to help her family, but sadly she was not granted a humanitarian exemption.
‘This will mean she will miss her own mother’s funeral which is so wrong. She could have quarantined in her family home under these exceptional circumstances.
‘When we hear of situations like this, it’s clear that this system needs to be modified.’
The Mail understands that another woman from the Congo who was transferred to the Crowne Plaza hotel – one of the State’s quarantine hotels – in Santry, Dublin last Friday also travelled to Ireland to bury a family member.
One Irish woman living in Dubai told the Mail that she is looking to be exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine as she recently found out that her mother is terminally ill.
‘My head is all over the place right now,’ she said.
‘All I want to do is see my mam right away. I can’t even imagine what 12 days in a hotel would be like knowing that she’s in pain.’
The Department of Health told the Mail that a deferral system is in place to allow those experiencing hardship to offset the €1,875 fee for mandatory quarantine.
‘A procedure is in place with Department of Foreign Affairs Missions for deferrals of prepayment for Irish citizens and residents abroad who need to travel for essential reasons.
‘This procedure can only be considered in exceptional/hardship circumstances,’ a spokeswoman said.
‘She will miss her mother’s funeral’