New Covid-19 restrictions targeted at holidaymakers, including increased fines for those leaving and mandatory hotel quarantine when they return from some destinations, are likely to be part of the Government’s plans to tighten external controls as the country prepares to slowly reopen.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said a revised plan for "living with Covid" would be unveiled during the week of February 22nd and would see some restrictions lifted after March 5th if infections continue to decline, but it is "without question" that some parts of economic and social life will not reopen fully "for a very long time".
In preparation for a reopening of social and economic life that Ministers repeatedly describe as “cautious and conservative”, the Government is seeking to introduce measures that will prevent new variants of the virus coming to the Republic.
Hospital Report
Ministers and officials said on Tuesday that the Government intended to introduce legislation next week which would provide for mandatory quarantine in hotels for incoming travellers, a measure the Government spokesman said could be extended to returning holidaymakers.
Government figures showed that of the 2,000 travellers coming into the country every day over the last two weeks, two-thirds were coming from holiday destinations, the spokesman said.
Once the legislation is passed by the Oireachtas, it will take "a week or two" to "operationalise it", Mr Varadkar told reporters. After that, returning holidaymakers may be required to isolate in State-designated hotels and pay for their accommodation, a spokesman said.
Intense efforts
Several sources in Government said intense efforts were being made to complete the legislative and practical preparations for mandatory quarantine, though it is understood a number of fundamental decisions about how the scheme will work have yet to be taken.
However, the Government has already received offers from some hotels to accommodate travellers who arrive from certain high-risk countries or without a Covid-19 PCR test and must undergo mandatory quarantine.
“I do know for a fact that offers are in from particular hotels that are willing to offer a comprehensive service ranging from airport pick-up to accommodation, meals and other things that need to be provided,” Mr Varadkar said.
It comes as British health secretary Matt Hancock announced a new system of hotel quarantine for UK and Irish residents who have been in red-list countries in the last 10 days.
Officials said Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly had held discussions with Mr Hancock, though senior sources remain sceptical that a joint approach between the two governments is possible.
Mr Varadkar, however, said he was a “strong advocate of a two-island strategy”.
"If we don't have much the same list, the inevitable is going to happen. You're going to have people transiting through Dublin to get to Britain, to Britain to get to Ireland, all of those obvious problems that were always going to arrive when you have mandatory quarantine," Mr Varadkar said.
Avoid restrictions
Co-operation between the two jurisdictions is seen as desirable as the Republic and the UK operate a common travel area. But The Irish Times has established that some British travellers are availing of the freedom of movement between the two countries, and the current Irish regulations, to avoid restrictions on travellers from Britain.
Expat British nationals are renting properties in Dublin for short-term layovers of 14 to 21 days before travelling on to Singapore and other countries in the Far East as they manage travel restrictions that prevent them returning directly from the UK.
Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar said the Government planned to “refresh” the “Living with Covid-19” plan and announce the modified strategy on the week of February 22nd.
He said construction would reopen “hopefully on March 5th” but not before that date. He said that personal services such as hairdressers would likely be “definitely much later than that” but that it may be possible for “households, for friends and family to meet outdoors”.
