Mandatory hotel quarantine must be an essential part of any strategy to combat the Covid- pandemic in Ireland, Sinn Féin TD for Longford-Westmeath Sorca Clarke has said.

Teachta Clarke said:

“It is simply unacceptable that while the Irish economy is in lockdown and our people being asked to make huge sacrifices, that people are coming into the country for non-essential travel without even having to quarantine.

“For this reason, I would like to echo the statements of our Transport spokesperson Darren O’Rourke TD in calling for all non-essential arrivals from all countries to have to quarantine.

“We still have large numbers of people coming in from Category 2 countries and other areas not covered by the government’s 33 country list for discretionary and non-essential travel. 

“There are variants of this virus which are more highly contagious, have different symptoms and possibly some which may be resistant to some vaccines. To risk bringing these into the country is negligence. 

“Nobody likes these measures, but the more that the Covid numbers go up; the longer strict lockdown measures will be prolonged. The onus is on the government now to prevent this.”