Passengers furious over last-minute change to pre-f light testing rules
‘Too late when they told us’
PASSENGERS who spent up to €100 on Covid tests so they could travel to Ireland are furious after the travel rule was postponed at the last minute for 48 hours.
Travellers arriving into Dublin Airport yesterday said they were ‘sickened’ after they paid, in some cases, hundreds of euro on PCR and antigen tests so they could board their flights to Dublin, only to find out when they landed that the travel requirement was no longer necessary.
One group of ten arriving from the UK told the Irish Daily Mail how they’d shelled out £390 (€457) on antigen tests.
The Government on Tuesday announced all arrivals into Ireland from yesterday would have to show a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours earlier, or no more than 48 hours for an antigen test. However, the measures were postponed at the last minute for another 48 hours and won’t now kick in until tomorrow.
Soliu Cullen, 23, who was flying home with friends after spending two days in Newcastle in England, paid £99 (€116) for a PCR test. He said he was ‘sickened’ to hear the news yesterday.
‘The Irish Government is a complete waste of time. They don’t know what they’re doing and are making things up as they go. It’d be nice for the Government to reimburse us but I don’t think they will,’ he said. Seán Kehoe, who was flying with Mr Cullen, said he had paid just €25 for his flight but also had to fork out £99 (€116) for a PCR test – almost five times the cost of the flight. ‘It’s mental when you think about it,’ he said. Special Education Minister Josepha Madigan yesterday said it would be up to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to consider whether travellers should be refunded the cost of the unnecessary tests. Louise Hyslop, who had flown in from Lisbon, said she and her family had spent €15 each, €60 in total, on antigen tests to go home to Waterford. ‘We only got the message about the rules being delayed at 8am, when our flight was at 9.30am,’ she said. ‘It’s ridiculous that we were made to get it and they then said we didn’t have to get it. The problem was it was too late when they told us.’ Ms Hyslop’s parents, Pat and Maria, are both triple-vaccinated, having had their booster jabs.
Mr Hyslop said: ‘With the boosters, I thought there would be no problem.’
Fergus Flanagan and Wiola Barylska, who were flying to Dublin from Gdansk, Poland, to visit family, said they paid €40 for an antigen test each. They said they found out at the boarding gate after they got a notification from Ryanair.
Mr Flanagan said: ‘It would be nice not to get mixed messages and for them to have a coherent plan and stick to it.’
Paul Hackett, president of the Irish Travel Agents Association, described the change as ‘disgraceful’. ‘We’re really annoyed about this,’ he said. ‘Every travel agent in the country has spent the week contacting their clients to tell them this has to happen.
‘People who are travelling are clearly upset. And then there is the money that has been wasted for everybody who got tests.
‘It is shambolic, there is no other word for it.
‘The communication is just shocking. I can’t even speak, I’m so angry about it. It’s just ridiculous.’
Travel expert Eoghan Corry also described the situation as a ‘shambles’. He said: ‘It just shows how ill-thought-out the whole thing was.’
Samantha Cooper had flown in from Birmingham. In total, her group of ten shelled out £390, or €457, on antigen tests. Ms Cooper said: ‘These are the times we’re living in. You just have to go with it unfortunately.’