Blame game after three f lee ‘robust’ hotel quarantine
Health Department, Defence Forces, gardaí and hotel deny responsibility
HEALTH MINISTER Stephen Donnelly’s mandatory hotel quarantine system – which he described as the ‘most robust in Europe by a country mile’ – lay in tatters last night after three guests ‘escaped’ from the facility in north Dublin.
They fled the Crowne Plaza in Santry, after spending one night there. It is believed they were out for a walk when they absconded.
It is understood that one of the three was found last night, but a search for the other two was continuing, according to RTÉ.
The guests have left a highly embarrassing trail in their wake, with officials – from the Department of Health, the Defence Forces, the gardaí and the hotel group that employed private security guards to prevent guests straying – all seeking to deflect blame.
Those who leave hotel quarantine without permission can be fined up to €2,000 or face imprisonment of up to one month.
The new mandatory hotel quarantine system, which targets passengers from 33 ‘high risk’ countries, was introduced on Friday morning. Up to 20 international passengers were taken to the Crowne Plaza, of the Tifco Hotel Group, hours after the rule was rolled out.
And when the Irish Mail on Sunday asked the Department of Health two days before the system became operational about whether security personnel guarding the facility would be obliged to work solely at the quarantine hotel, the department said it was not responsible for security, adding: ‘The Department of Health has engaged an end-to-end service provider to provide all services required for mandatory quarantine in a designated facility. This includes accommodation, food, transport and security.’
But when the MoS put these questions to the Tifco Hotel group it referred all queries to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly’s department.
The finger-pointing continued this weekend, with the gardaí referring queries about the escape to the Defence Forces on the basis that the army is deemed to be the State liason officer in charge of the quarantine facility.
However, the army said it is responsible only for the safe transfer of passengers from arrival terminals to the hotel – so it referred all queries to the department.
Passengers who arrive into Ireland have to self-declare that they came from one of the 33 ‘high risk’ countries, including South America and Africa. An individual passenger has to pay €1,875 for a 12-night stay at a quarantine hotel.
The rule comes two months after Professor Antony Blakely – whose scientific modelling team is credited with bringing the number of daily cases in the Australian state of Victoria from a peak of more than 700 a day to single figures – warned that the Irish quarantine plan was doomed to fail unless it was managed by health experts.
The Melbourne University epidemiologist was part of the fourmember scientific team whose findings were used by the Victoria government to devise a hugely successful Covid-19 roadmap that has eased lockdown restrictions.
He said at the time: ‘That sounds like a strategy that is not bulletproof. It will slow down the rate of infection but it isn’t going to stop it.
One of the mistakes we made in the second wave was we had the security quarantine run by bureaucrats rather than by health specialists.
‘It was not run by the chief medical officer and health experts. It was treated as a logistics exercise… you have to have it run from a health perspective. You need to vaccinate the border staff and airline staff to minimise risk of transmission to some extent.
‘And it must be ensured people doing this work are paid to do the job they are doing so that you don’t have people working in one hotel one day and working in another hotel [later] for another few days.’
Other critics say the Government’s mandatory hotel quarantine system is doomed to fail because it is based on people making truthful self-declarations. There is a massive incentive for people to lie to avoid hefty charges to be confined to a hotel room for 12 days.
Associate professor in geopolitics at UCD Dr Julien Mercille said: ‘I’m sure if you fly from Brazil they will spot that but if you stop for two days in Europe you are supposed to say it but a lot is based on trust.
‘It’s very problematic… the incentive is that you can skip two weeks of quarantine and there is also a nice incentive for people to not be truthful… and save being in quarantine for two weeks and not having to pay for quarantine.
‘If you get caught at some point you will have to pay a fine. But there is a nice reward if you can get away with it.’
He added: ‘If you increase the number of countries on the list you can patch holes and if you have better investigation of where travellers are coming from you patch a few holes but there is always going to be more holes.
‘The countries that were successful, Australia and New Zealand, they did a blanket quarantine system. There’s no other way. Really, the recommended system for Ireland would be a hotel quarantine system for all travellers.’
In response to our questions, the Department of Health, said: In the interests of protecting confidentiality, the Department of Health does not comment on individual cases. The Department of Health is in constant contact with Tifco Hotel Group about all issues relating to the management of mandatory hotel quarantine. At all times, our priority is to ensure that everyone completing their period of mandatory quarantine is comfortable and secure. The Department and Tifco continue to work together to ensure this is the case.’
‘Guests who flee the hotel face a €2,000 fine’
‘The hotel stay is not a bullet-proof strategy’