Ireland reopens to EU travellers but keeps doors shut to Britons
Ireland is to maintain its quarantine on British travellers because of “real concerns” over the Indian variant, but it will open to the EU and US from July 19.
Ireland’s Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said Ireland was “not in a position” to restore the Common Travel Area with Britain for now, but hoped that the UK could join the EU and US on its green list by mid-July.
It means that anyone travelling to Ireland from the UK must quarantine for 14 days, although they can secure a release with a negative test on the fifth day. By contrast, people can travel from Ireland to the UK without restrictions.
Mr Varadkar is postponing restoration of the Common Travel area after advice from National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). “The advice that we have is that there are real concerns about the prevalence of the Indian variant in Britain”, he said.
“It's now the dominant variant in Britain - over 50 per cent of cases appear to be this B1617 variant. That’s something we're concerned about, and, for that reason, we're not in a position to restore the Common Travel Area just yet.”
Ireland’s move follows Germany, France and Austria imposing restrictions on travel because of concerns over the spread of the Indian variant.
France announced on Thursday that from Monday, people arriving from Britain will be expected to quarantine for seven days and provide a negative PCR or antigen test from within 48 hours of arrival. Non-essential travel will be banned.
From July 19, Ireland is proposing to join the EU’s green certificate scheme, under which people will be able to travel provided they show proof of vaccination, a negative Covid test or evidence of immunity from having contracted the virus.
It is proposing a similar requirement for the US and UK, subject to the lifting of its quarantine rules for British travellers, which are likely to last through June.
Meanwhile, a small band of Mediterranean, Atlantic and Caribbean islands could make it onto the Government’s green list for quarantine free holidays, two independent analyses have suggested.
Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary condemned the Irish Government for refusing to open the border with the British mainland, labelling the Indian variant a “scariant.”
Robert Boyle, a former BA strategist, who correctly forecast a handful of countries last time, suggests just Malta, Finland, Slovakia and some Spanish and Greek islands will join the green list for take-off on June 7.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, who also correctly identified contenders last time, suggests Malta, Grenada, Finland, the Canary Islands, Balearics, Barbados and Jamaica should all be added to the green list when it is unveiled next week.
Both have sought to emulate the analysis prepared for ministers by the Joint Biosecurity Centre, which provides a risk assessment on countries based on their infection rates, the prevalence of the variant, their testing and genome sequencing capacity and vaccination levels.
Both agree that the major European destinations of Spain, Greece, Italy and France are unlikely to make the cut on June 7 for the green list, which allows holidaymakers to return without having to quarantine although they still have to pay for PCR tests.
