Sinn Féin TD for Meath East Darren O’Rourke has raised the lack of checks and restrictions on passengers arriving into Irish ports and airports with the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross.

Speaking today, Deputy O’Rourke said;

“The current system of Covid-19 checks and controls in our ports and airports is wholly inadequate.

“The sum total of government efforts to date in this area has been to hand out a piece of paper, the Public Health Passenger Locator Form, which has been ignored by approximately a third of passengers who didn’t bother to fill it in, while a further third didn’t answer follow up calls.

“This is little more than an exercise in administration, and a far more robust procedure is needed. The laissez-faire approach of the government here must change.

“I challenged Minister Shane Ross about this in the Dáil this week, and he had little detail on what the government would be doing to address this pressing issue.

“With Ryanair planning to resume 40% of flights from July, and with so many unanswered questions about our capacity to adequately test and trace, it is imperative the government move now to put proper checks and restrictions in place at our ports of entry.

“I also encouraged Minister Ross to work with Sinn Féin and the Stormont Executive to develop island wide rules for arrivals going forward. It defies logic to have two different systems, 90 miles apart.

“We must ensure those arriving into Ireland are adhering to proper rules and regulations, to help in the fight against Covid-19.”