Some 11,901 people flew into Dublin Airport in the first week of February, new figures show, as Britain’s shadow security secretary warned about Dublin being used as a backdoor into the UK.
Just over 2,000 people flew into the airport on Sunday – the second busiest day of the week – including travellers arriving on one flight from the United Arab Emirates and three from Portugal, two countries that the UK has banned travel from over Covid-19.
There are no restrictions on flights between Ireland and Britain.
Hospital Report
A total of 3,347 people flew into Dublin on Friday. The DAA said that passenger numbers are down by more than 90 per cent on the same period last year as a result of the pandemic.
The spread of the coronavirus variants in South Africa and Brazil has led to countries tightening travel restrictions to prevent them being transmitted amid concerns about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, one of three in use in this country, against the variants.
Department of Transport figures show that 110,930 passengers passed through Dublin Airport in January, 60 per cent of whom were travelling for non-essential purposes. Almost 64,000 people arrived in Dublin in the first 16 days of the month before proof of a negative PCR test – the standard test used to the detect the virus – was required.
British Labour MP Conor McGinn, shadow secretary for security, said reports that Dublin was being used as a "back door" into the UK for people taking connecting flights from banned countries was "very concerning".
Point-of-origin checks
He urged the UK government to work with the Irish Government to ensure that the arrangements around the free movement of people between Ireland and Britain under the Common Travel Area were "not open to abuse".
“Ministers must now urgently ensure point-of-origin checks at airports in the UK for passengers arriving on flights from Ireland and work with counterparts in Dublin to close this back door,” said the Armagh-born politician.
Virologist Dr Cillian De Gascun, director of UCD's National Virus Reference Laboratory, said on Monday there had been 11 cases of the South African variant detected in Ireland, all related to travel, but that the Brazilian variant has not been identified within the State.
Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, said the National Public Health Emergency Team had been concerned about the effect of international travel on the spread of the virus "for quite a while" and that concern continued with the impact of the new variants.
The UK banned travel from Portugal and South America on January 15th amid fears over a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil. The United Arab Emirates was added to the travel ban list by the UK government late last month.
Route ‘abused’
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said that if travel between Ireland and Britain was being "abused" by UK citizens, then the Government will "close that door" by ensuring the UK authorities "know exactly where people are coming through our airports".
Passengers travelling into the State and on to Northern Ireland are required to fill out a portion of the Government's passenger locator form, providing their address in Northern Ireland. The failure to complete this can result in a fine of up €2,500 or a prison sentence of up to six months.
Locator form
The Department of Health said Irish officials will from this week start contacting passengers travelling to Northern Ireland from outside the Common Travel Area to advise them of their requirement to fill in a UK passenger locator form and telling them of specific public health advice.
Officials north and south of the Border do not as yet share data on these passengers.
“Discussions with Northern Irish authorities to establish a data-sharing agreement, which will enable the sharing of data collected from Irish passenger locator forms, in relation to travellers transiting to Northern Ireland from outside the Common Travel Area, to support their public health efforts, are at an advanced stage,” said the department.
