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LAST UPDATE | 13 Jul 2021
PEOPLE WHO HAVE had Covid-19 in the last six months who wish to travel will be able to contact a call centre which will then issue a recovery certificate.
Minister of State Ossian Smyth said those recovered from Covid-19 should not contact their GPs in order to get a certificate.
The Taoiseach confirmed in the Dáil this afternoon that recovery certs will be available through the call centre.
A government spokesperson confirmed this evening that a “small number of people” may have to get in touch with their GP, but said the “first port of call” to get the cert is through the call centre.
There was confusion earlier after Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that those who have recovered from Covid-19 can get in touch with their GP or testing centre for a recovery certificate.
However, it has since been clarified that Martin was referring to the system that will operate indoor dining only.
It is understood the minister was referring to a memo that was approved by Cabinet as regards indoor dining, which sets out that certs “or other confirmation from a relevant medical practitioner could be used for booking and entry” for indoor dining.
This will allow people who do not have a digital cert, but are still vaccinated or recovered from the virus, to avail of indoor dining.
A government spokesperson confirmed that “the memo basically outlines this plan but that’s being worked on by the working group that is looking at this to see how all this will actually function”.
They said “a note or a letter” from the doctor could be used at the door of the restaurant or pub, but “the easiest way by far for most people would be to contact to help line”.
Talks
The Restaurants Association of Ireland has said further talks with Government officials including representatives of HSE, HSA, gardaí and Failte Ireland took place this afternoon.
In a statement, it said: “We are now working at ferocious speed engaging with Government in order to deliver operational guidelines for all hospitality businesses across the State.
“The focus is now on developing user friendly guidelines for both businesses, employees and consumers ahead of reopening indoor hospitality.
“More engagement bilaterally with trade representatives on a daily basis. Businesses want to reopen and employees want to return to work safely, securely and viably.”
Speaking this afternoon, Transport Minister and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was asked about the confusion caused by the comments of his party colleague Martin this morning.
Ryan said that a number of days will be needed to work through the final details, including the role of GPs and others. He said the working group is working on the issues.
The legislation to allow for indoor dining, he said, defines “proof of immunity” as a Digital Covid Certificate (DCC), or “a form of proof of recovery from Covid-19 as may be prescribed in regulations”.
A government spokesperson told reporters today that two separate things are being “conflated” which might be causing confusion.
He said the EU Digital Covid Cert was primarily set up for travel, as was the call centre. “That’s what the whole system was set up for,” he said.
Due to the position the government finds itself in when it comes to indoor dining, the cert is now going to be used as a means to give people access to pubs and restaurants.
Certs
Fully vaccinated people began receiving their Digital Covid Certificates this week.
People who were vaccinated via the HSE portal are receiving their certs via email.
Those who were vaccinated by their GP or in a pharmacy are receiving it in the post.
The EU Digital Green Certificate — essentially a QR code which will be available on smartphones or on paper — shows whether the bearer is vaccinated with one of the EU’s approved jabs (from BioNTech/Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson), or whether they have recovered from an infection or recently tested negative.
Irish citizens will still be allowed to travel for non-essential reasons from next week even if they don’t have the certificate.
Minister Smyth said the certificate is being rolled out to speed up the process in the airport, but those without a certificate will still be able to travel if they have proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test.
“If for any reason you don’t have a certificate, you can still travel on your existing documentation,” he said.
“If you can show evidence that you’ve been vaccinated, or that you’ve been tested, you can still travel.
“So it’s not a prerequisite for travel, you don’t have to have a Digital Covid Cert to travel, but it does make it faster,” he said.
Approximately 160,000 paper vaccine certs were sent via post yesterday, with more to be sent out in batches throughout the week. Around one million certs will be issued via email between yesterday and tomorrow. A total of 1.8 million certs are expected to be delivered by next Monday.
With reporting by Céimin Burke, Christina Finn and Rónán Duffy
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I am struggling to remember a single thing this government have managed properly.
Apart from their numerous pay rises.
@Andrew Martin: working day and night to legitimise the pay rise for working day and night to legitimise the pay rise.
@Andrew Martin: errrr how about Ireland ranked 20th highest in full vaccinations? And a working tracking app, how about us not going the way of the UK. We ate doing a lot of right things. Sorry to ruin your massive failed whinge
@Paul Furey: Your opinion is in the minority now unfortunately
… People want the country opened up.
@Paul Furey: ha, a tracking app that chewed through battery power and didnt work 100%, 20th while vaccinating a relatively small population and what way are the UK going? Fully open soon and more vaccinated than us?…… I get that you’re pro govt in the majority of your posts but in reality they’ve handled this crisis very poorly on many levels. Poor communication, leaks, conflicting info, not protecting the elderly in the first wave, afraid to lock down initially while watching everyone else lock down(26th in europe to do so), not engaging with heavily impacted sectors, nearly a year in level 5 and not managing the economy through the whole thing, rules that dont make any sense, taking ages to enforce masks for a airborne disease, not making use of rapid testing. And theres prob more.
@Paul Hedderman: the UK also had 50 deaths today, the highest number since April. Do you want that here too?
@Paul Furey: The only thing this inept government can agree on is on how to F..k things up.
@Sam Harms: Adjust for population. Thats like 3 – 4 deaths here…. And they had 6 yesterday. Thats why 7 day moving averages are better stats to look at to get a more accurate picture.
@Paul Hedderman: in the past 7 days they have had 213 deaths
@Sam Harms: thanks sam. Thats an average of 30. This time in their second wave when they had slightly higher daily cases they were getting around 600 deaths a day. Big difference….. Thankful the vaccienes are being rolled out
@Sam Harms: Thanks also for proving my point. 50 is way worse than the 7 day average of 30. 66.6% more infact.
@Paul Hedderman: so you don’t think an average of 30 people a day dying from covid is bad? How many people are you willing to sacrifice?
@Sam Harms: in the UK, no, thats very good in regard to fighting the virus. Thats like 2 people a day here…… Around 2 people die a day here during flu season. Never any restrictions for that and most people go on with their daily lives unaware. While any death is sad for the loved ones humans get sick and die all the time. We live beside viruses and illness every day of our lives, unrestricted pre covid. We’ll get to a stage with covid where we’ll live unrestricted, hopefully limiting deaths as much as possible, but there’ll probably still be deaths. People need to realise that.
Typical..right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing….
@Paul Somers: typical….moaner
@Paul Furey: is ‘whinge’ your favourite word, Paul?
@JedBartlett: He seems to have an extremely limited vocabulary:)
@Paul Furey: i never tire of seeing you whinge about other people whinging.
Do they ever talk to each other before telling the public stuff?
@Ballybough Marcus: no they haven’t the intelligence
Misunderstanding something they are brilliant at
@Keith O Hanlon: Yes exactly, this is what the email says:You can use your certificate to facilitate travel across EU member states during the Covid-19 pandemic and on the actual cert it mentions that this is not a travel document
@Keith O Hanlon: Yes exactly, this is what the email says:You can use your certificate to facilitate travel across EU member states during the Covid-19 pandemic and on the actual cert it mentions that this is not a travel document
@d: Well thats actually a contradiction in terms as they are saying you must have it, or a pcr / antigen test, to travel.
So if you do not receive the covid passport by email having been vaccinated in June, and are flying on the 19th of July…..and there is no call centre no to contact ? you seriously could not make this up….
@Linda Oreilly: Well wouldn’t that be a little bit silly, booking for the very day the restricitions are up? In Ireland. Where nothing runs on time.
@Tom Tom: And its that sort of attitude that contributes to these shortcomings. “Ah shur we’ll be grand” instead of saying get your overpaid asses into gear get it done properly.
@Linda Oreilly: Is it not going to be available on the Covid tracker app as well? You’d have that to show?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: yep I got my Covid Vaccine Passport via email late last night. No more PCR tests!!
All i can think of anytime one of these eejits make a statement is a chant you would here at a foitball match ” You don’t know what you’re doing”
@Derek Lyster: just waiting and hoping for a slight slip up by theGovernment and the Shinners and lefties are out of the woodwork…the rest of us agree that a good job is being done in extreme and unprecedented situations.
@john gavin: I’m neither a Shinner nor a Leftie as you so condescendingly put it. I would just like our vastly overpaid representatives to do their jobs properly. Not try to rush through legislation that has in no way been thought properly through so they can go on holidays. I for one don’t agree that they, have or are, doing a good job.
@Franny Ando: But that’s exactly what a Stalint-Trotskist-Marxist-Lefty-Commie would say!
Seriously though, it self expires in 3 months and they can’t do it the right way anyway because it’s constitutionally *very* sketchy and likely wouldn’t pass muster. They are lucky they have Michael D to sign it tbh. I doubt some of our previous presidents would.
So, yeah, it’s rubbish, but at least it will put itself in the bin in October so I don’t see the need to stress it.
@John Considine: But remember they are also saying it can be extended beyond Oct. So let’s hope it is put in the bin:)
Michael Martin looking a bit unwell these days
Ahh the good old “GANFYD” approach: “Get A Note From Your Doctor”.
Doctor’s notes waste huge amounts of time and aren’t as valuable as most folk believe. Waste of your own money and your doctor’s time in many cases.
We need to move away from this business of medicalising everything. Why would you need a doctor’s note to eat out, go on holiday etc? Surely that’s the Dept of Health’s decision.
Tried to ring the number today as my cert has the wrong name on it. Rang once then disconnected. This happened 10 times. Looks like they’re getting paid not to answer the phone.
The Mrs. Received her cert today but is disappointed that it can’t be laminated due to the glare from the paper which prevents the digital machine from reading the QR code.
So what’s the phone number then ?
I got mine through my gp but at a hse vaccination centre. God only knows if or how I’ll get one. I better call the helpline. Oh no wait, its not set up yet.
Got phizer in a country outside the EU. I wonder will they accept my covid vaccination certificate!
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