Kildare North TD questions strategy on Covid travel restrictions in Dail

The Government assumption that international travel is low-risk does not stand up to scrutiny, Kildare North TD, Catherine Murphy has told the Dail, today (January 27)

 Deputy Murphy, co-leader of the Social Democrats, said there is broad public acceptance that enforceable quarantine measures are required to keep other variants of Covid-19 out of the country.

But she told the Taoiseach that the Government seems to be operating on the working assumption that international travel is low-risk.

She also said that figures showed that nearly half the people arriving in the country did not provide an address.

Deputy Murphy said:“High profile non-compliance in relation to international travel is undermining broader compliance. There is a high degree of fear. People are not looking to punish other people – they are looking to be protected. That is why the focus is on international travel in relation to the other variants. There is a public understanding of those risks.”

The Leixlip based TD said:“The reality is that the UK and South African variants did not arrive into this country on a south-easterly – they came in on a flight or a boat. Other strains of the virus will arrive though these means too.

“Given that the UK variant is now the most dominant one in Ireland, where is the evidence that international travel is low-risk? Figures I recently received from the Minister for Health showed that 49% percent of passengers arriving into Ireland did not provide the authorities with an address, so where is the evidence of compliance?

Deputy Murphy said there’s an understandable desire by the public for the Government to keep the country as safe as possible. “It is difficult to understand how changing quarantine requirements from advisory to mandatory can be enforced in homes.”

Concluding she said: “The starting point for the Government strategy seems to be what can’t be done, with a reliance on the default position of rolling lockdowns.”