Sir, – Derek Scally reports that German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that "Germany is facing a new pandemic" ("Curfews in Berlin, Hamburg and Brandenburg", World, April 2nd). Bavarian premier Markus Söder has warned that "the situation is serious".
Yet here Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney opposes mandatory hotel quarantine of travellers from Germany and other highly infected parts of the EU (“Quarantine latest skirmish between politicians and health officials”, News April 2nd). Mr Coveney claims, inter alia, that mandatory hotel quarantine shouldn’t be applied to “countries where a large number of Irish people live”. Groucho Marx’s quip comes to mind: “A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” – Yours, etc,
KARL MARTIN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – A quiz for your letter readers consequent on the addition of more exotic countries to the mandatory quarantine list. Make a well-known phrase from the following letters. Stable, the, has, horse, the, closing, bolted, after, door, has. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD RODGERS,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is doing all in his power to try and protect the people who live on this island from further strains being imported into this island. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney is doing all in his power to keep his colleagues in Brussels happy. Historians in the future will judge the cost of these conflicting priorities and no doubt the inaction and excuses given for not doing the blindingly obvious and closing our borders at the very start of this pandemic. – Yours, etc,
NICK CRAWFORD,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – We have decided not to enforce mandatory hotel quarantine on travellers from the countries from which visitors are most likely to come to Ireland. My understanding was that the intent of mandatory hotel quarantine was specifically and explicitly to deter non-essential travel into the country and by doing so prevent the importation of existing and novel variants of Covid-19. The primary purpose is not to catch people who have the virus, although that is also a necessary element of the programme.
But now, so as not to make it too hard for “Irish” people to come to Ireland, we are not requiring the people coming from the US, UK and EU to mandatorily quarantine. The very cohort of people that are most likely to come to Ireland, to stay in a household, and if they have the virus, to spread it via close contact. The surge at Christmas was precisely because of people coming home and bringing the B117 variant with them. We have finally decided to implement a quarantine system and within a week decided to hamstring it. This is about as clear and obvious as a failure of logic gets. – Yours, etc,
TREVOR SHEAHAN,
Blackrock,
Cork.
Sir, – The confusion on whether or not EU law prohibits quarantining of EU nationals is astonishing. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union allows perfectly clear exceptions on grounds of public health. Article 36 states that free movement of goods “shall not preclude prohibitions or restrictions on imports, exports or goods in transit justified on grounds of [...] the protection of health and life of humans”. Article 45 states that freedom of movement for workers is “subject to limitations justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health”. Article 52 provides that measures to ensure freedom of establishment (the right to set up a business in another member state) “shall not prejudice the applicability of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action providing for special treatment for foreign nationals on grounds of public policy, public security or public health”.
Yes, the other member states and European institutions need to be notified and provided with the requisite justification, but surely that should have been a matter of course before any public announcement was made? – Yours, etc,
KATHLEEN FINGLETON,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.
Sir; – As Father Ted might say: San Marino is small. The Wallis and Futuna Islands are far away. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KEEGAN,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.