Ireland may introduce 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the country, PM Leo Varadkar reveals
- Ireland could impose legally-binding 14-day quarantine on all overseas arrivals
- Law would replace current system which only advises travellers to self-isolate
- Varadkar said it would be necessary until an international agreement on travel
- The UK, part of common travel area with Ireland, announced similar measures
Ireland may force people to isolate for 14 days after arriving in the country as part of tougher coronavirus measures, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said.
The new legally-enforceable system would replace the current system where a 14-day quarantine is only advised.
It comes after Boris Johnson announced similar rules for the UK, expected to come into force next month.
Ireland may impose a legally-binding 14-day quarantine on all overseas travellers after the UK announced similar measures (pictured, grounded Ryanair jets in Dublin)
‘We may need to tighten it up a bit because at the moment it is advisory, it is not enforceable by the law,’ Varadkar told Today FM radio.
Restrictions on entering Ireland would need to be in place ‘at least until we have some kind of international agreement’ on air travel, Varadkar said.
Ireland is part of a Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom but not a member of the European Union’s Schengen free travel area.
Despite leaving the EU on January 31, the UK is still considered to be a part of the Schengen zone until the end of the transition period at the end of the year.
That has caused friction after Mr Johnson UK quarantine would not apply to travellers from France after Emmanuel Macron negotiated an exemption.
A European Union spokesman said any exemptions would have to apply to the bloc as a whole, while the UK continues abiding by its rules.
‘Restrictions to free movement, as well as lifting restrictions, have to comply with the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination,’ the spokesman said.
The move comes after Boris Johnson announced similar measures for the UK – which quickly ran into problems after it emerged he had granted an exemption for travellers from France
‘We would expect that the UK in this case would apply the same kind of exemptions to arrivals from other member states, which are in a similar epidemiological situation as France.’
The EU Commission is today expected to announce rules on international travel between the bloc’s 27 member states.
Measures are expected to include a relaxation of border closures that came into force as the coronavirus pandemic tore through Europe.
It is also expected to include guidance on safe ways to restart the continent’s fragile tourism economy, worth an estimated £690billion per year.
Speaking on Tuesday ahead of the announcement, the EU’s economic minister Paolo Gentiloni insisted: ‘We will definitely have a tourist season in summer.’
Any travel would have to be subject to ‘security measures and restrictions’ he added, without elaborating further.