Sinn Féin spokesperson on Transport Darren O’Rourke TD has submitted an amendment to the Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 in order to extend quarantine to all non-essential arrivals, not just those arriving from twenty countries.

Teachta O’Rourke said:

“We are almost a year into the Covid-19 pandemic and the legislation for mandatory hotel quarantine was only published late on Friday night. The system still will not be in operation for another few weeks.

“It is clear the government now know their international travel policy to date has failed abysmally, but the Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 does not go far enough.

“Mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from 20 countries simply is not sufficient, and so we have submitted an amendment to the Bill to ensure that this is extended to all non-essential international arrivals.

“The Bill has a three-month sunset clause and so we believe mandatory hotel quarantine for all non-essential international arrivals during this time is appropriate and proportional.

“We need strong action now to prevent new variants being imported and to protect our vaccination programme over the coming months.

“In addition, we put forward amendments that would see all non-essential arrivals required to have a PCR test post-arrival, improve data sharing between north and south and to ensure the Dáil has a say in development of new regulations.

“Half measures from the government won’t cut it anymore. They have sat on their hands for too long. This needs to be progressed as soon as possible, as far too much time has already been lost.”

A list of Sinn Féin’s amendments to the Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 is available here.