Ireland leaves British travellers off quarantine-free ‘green list’
22 July 2020, 11:27
British holidaymakers will face 14 days of quarantine on arrival in Ireland as the UK was left off the country's 'green list' of coronavirus-safe destinations.
The countries featured on the safe list are Greece, Greenland, Gibraltar, Monaco, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Italy, Malta, Finland, San Marino, Slovakia, Cyprus, Estonia and Hungary.
However, the UK and US were notably left off.
The Irish government has said that decisions were made based on infection rate, and only countries with an infection rate lower than that of Ireland were included.
Travellers arriving form any of these countries will be able to travel freely to Ireland and will not face any coronavirus restrictions or time spent in quarantine.
People arriving from any countries outside of the "green list" will have to self-isolate for 14 days and will be required to fill in a passenger locator form.
However, essential workers and anyone crossing the border from Northern Ireland will be exempt.
The list has also dealt a blow to many people in Ireland who were hoping to holiday this year, with destinations such as France, Spain and Portugal being left off the list.
The government said that it would "continue with plans to strengthen the existing measures for monitoring passengers who arrive into Ireland".
It also said that test and trace procedures may be heightened for people entering the country and flights could be restricted again if infection levels increase.
Opposition politicians in Ireland branded the list as confusing as official government advice still currently advises against non-essential travel to anywhere outside of Ireland.
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Co-leader of the Social Democrats Roisin Shortall said said: "The promised announcement of the green list for countries considered as safe while at the same time advising against all non-essential travel is inherently contradictory.
"But of much more concern is the government's ambiguity about travel from countries that are not on the green list.
"Not only has the government operated a self-isolate policy which has been largely unenforceable over recent months, but, inexplicably, in the last few weeks the travel advice has actually changed and weakened for those countries.
"Incoming travellers are now advised to merely restrict their movements.
"This poses a huge risk to our health, the lives of our vulnerable and to our economy."
The country confirmed 36 new cases and no new deaths on Tuesday.
