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TÁNAISE LEO VARADKAR has said that people are allowed to travel to green list countries for non-essential reasons.
The Fine Gael leader and Business Minister was speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sarah McInerney after the government published the much-awaited list late on Tuesday night.
People travelling from the 15 countries and territories on the list do not need to restrict their movements when they come back to Ireland, as is the case with everywhere else abroad.
The government is still advising people against non-essential foreign travel and some insurers had expressed confusion over whether this advice still applied to green-list countries.
Varadkar today said that it does not.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs website says that no non-essential travel is the general advice, but there are exemptions and the exemptions are the green list,” the Tánaiste said.
The government is saying to you that the safest thing to do is to stay at home, to not travel and holiday at home in Ireland this year. But if you are travelling there are two sets of countries. For those on the green list, we’re saying to you take normal precautions. And that means you don’t need to restrict your movements for 14 days when you come back. And for those countries not on the green list, the no non-essential travel advice still applies.
Asked directly does this mean people can holiday in green list countries, Varadkar said:
“The virus does not know whether you’re on essential or non-essential business or what passport you have. What we’re saying to people is that the safest thing is not to travel for any reason, to stay at home in Ireland and holiday at home. But there is a difference between countries that have a very low level of the virus, like Norway, for example, or Italy or Greece, as opposed to countries that are hotspots.”
Asked whether the advice remained confusing, Varadkar said the government did not want to treat people “like a child” and ignore the fact that some countries have higher instances of Covid-19 than others.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs website has the advice for every country and it is there in black and white. It may not be simple but it is very straightforward,” Varadkar said.
Speaking earlier this week ahead of the publication of the green list, Varadkar raised eyebrows when he suggested that unless there was different advice for different countries “we would be better off not having a green list at all.”
Asked what his intention was in making those comments, the Tánaiste said that “different messages” had been coming from “different ministers”.
“What I felt was that in the days preceding that there were a number of different ministers going on the radio and TV, giving different messages, so I felt it was really important that at Cabinet meeting on Monday (sic) night we made a decision, and that we all communicated it,” Varadkar said.
Asked who were the ministers he was talking about, Varadkar said it was “different people from different parties”.
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It may not be simple but it is very straightforward…..pretty much sums it up all right.
@deisecelt: it may not be compulsory but it is mandatory
It may definitely be a hames of a handling by this government.
@deisecelt: was wondering when this would be picked up … hilarious! Can’t make this sort of stuff up even if you tried.
@Marcus Kittel: the nearest you would get to it is the script from Fr Ted. Hilarious.
@Alan McArdle: haha first thing I thought of.
@deisecelt: I may not have had a sandwich for lunch, but I did have tuna in two slices of bread.
@deisecelt:
You might expect something like this from Trump – or maybe a Healey Rae!
@deisecelt: Probably definitely I’d say…Well, maybe, or maybe not. I used to be indecisive…but, but, now I’m not so sure!
@deisecelt: it is straightforward and simple. You don’t have to quarantine after coming back from these countries if necessary travel ie business or returning, but don’t consider it a free pass to go on holiday to them. Simples.
What is the media obsession with Leo? I’ve heard and read more from the Tanaiste in the last 3 weeks than I’ve heard from one in the last 15yrs.
@Martin McGowan: #cannonbot
@Martin McGowan: The media’s obsession with Leo, or Leo’s obsession with the media perhaps?
@Martin McGowan: I think it might be because we’ve a coalition again.
Different voices from different parties. Ryan is another who’ll will get loads of column inches. Burton was vocal as leader of labour and now leo is because he’s the leader of fg. Mary Harney was another who got loads of media time I can’t remember any more except for Coveney who had brexit to talk about.
@Martin McGowan: he’s the REAL Taoiseach!
@Martin McGowan: 1.7 million€ p.r
@Martin McGowan: The Great Covid PR Campaign 2020.
NPHET just wanted to guilt trip everyone into staying at home. It’s pretty clear now that there is no problem traveling to a country on the green list as long as you follows all precautions.
The problem with the Green List starts with it’s name – for most people green means “Go”!
@MsDaisyDoll: too much Paw Patrol
@MsDaisyDoll: Ryanair are advertising it as GO!
@Daniel Kelly: exactly!
So, I read the entire article.
It’s explained well. If everyone read it and ignored the it was ‘big bad horrible Leo’ that said it then we’d be fine.
Green list countries – go there, no need for 14 day self isolation when you come back
Non Green list – don’t go. If you do it must be essential travel and you do 14 days self-isolation when you come back.
But, if you want to protect yourself and everyone else, stay at home and holiday in Ireland to be on the safe side until we get a vaccine etc.
If you’ve booked a holiday already (I can’t imagine the numbers that have done this are that high really) and it’s a non-green list country (bound to be) then you’ve lost what you’ve paid it seems.
But, forget the ‘big bad government’ for a minute here, the reason people are going to lose their deposits etc if they don’t go to a non-green list country is because it’d be their choice to not go, the government won’t ban foreign travel because they’d have to compensate everyone (the bill for this whole pandemic is big enough as it is). But the real shysters are the airlines, flying ghost flights to all these non-green list countries, that’s to keep the timetable intact and screw the traveler because the flights were never grounded.
@Bernard Sweeney: see if this media loving Prince vanity socks stopped trying to stay relevant and let an actual expert explain the list, people wouldn’t be so quick to attack it. But Leo vanity socks can’t help himself
@Bernard Sweeney: the airlines are flying these flights because there are people who still need or want to go irrespective of the color of the list. They will decide on what risks to take as with any other activities and will decide on how to proceed with government advice to ‘restrict your movements as much as possible’ when they retur n. Thank god for these airlines. They are keeping family and friends united in these difficult times.
@Dr Pablo Rojas Coppari: “Thank god for these airlines. They are keeping family and friends united in these difficult times”
In a way, yes, I agree with you. But mostly not. Ask anyone who’s been screwed by them this last 4 months especially (not me, I’ve no axe to grind)
@Michael Patrick Newell:
Well done, you’ve just proved my point.
Relevant? He’s FG leader and Tánaiste ffs. He’s a lot more relevant than you or I.
@Bernard Sweeney: Maybe if he had a good track record as a leader or in a roll as minister, he would be relevant, but lets be frank he has never excelled at anything including being re-elected which took a couple of recounts, which should tell ya people have no faith in him, hence why so many don’t take him seriously
@Bernard Sweeney:
TUI cancelled our holiday to Greece on the 20th July
@Michael Patrick Newell:
“including being re-elected which took a couple of recounts”
There were no recounts. PRSTV, he got elected. Doesn’t matter what count he got elected on. So many shinners romping home 1st didn’t really achieve much did it?
@Dr Pablo Rojas Coppari: Also, ask the industry commentators, they’re saying the exact same thing.
@Denis White: Refund?
Leo is in the media more than the new Taoiseach.
Does the virus know if u have food worth 9 euro
@Tony Mcgrath: why do people post such things? You know exactly why and what the rule as do other people liking your comment. It’s like hearing “That’s what she said” over and over again. Are people really that numb to intelligence
@Craic_a_tower: we most people understand why but still think it’s daft and clueless all the same, and people know also those who wanna get drunk are finding ways around this idea, so why don’t they just go right lads go the pub, social distance etc and out by 105 mins cos adding a 9 euro meal wouldn’t save ya either way
@Michael Patrick Newell: so they repeat the same low brow joke?
@Michael Patrick Newell:
“and people know also those who wanna get drunk are finding ways around this idea” – yes, they are, they’re drinking at home, parties, parks etc.
They aren’t finding ways around it in restaurants or hotels because they’re being strict as hell for the most part. We know this now. The gardai lit a fire under them.
“9 euro meal wouldn’t save ya either way” Obviously, but, again, you know the point of this. You can’t book a table for 1h:45m in a restaurant and go in, order a 5 euro desert and beer. Substantial meal is required, it also helps the restaurant too, people going in spending money on a 2 or 3 course meal.
“so why don’t they just go right lads go the pub, social distance etc and out by 105 mins”
Funniest thing I’ve read yet. Gang of likely lads go into a pub, stay 2 meters apart at all times and throw as much beer into themselves as they can (unless they’re limited by the barman, which makes opening not worthwhile) for 1h:45m and still maintain social distancing the whole time and voluntarily leave at the allotted time!? No, won’t happen. And yes, I know, not everyone would be like this but there’d be enough to ruin it for everyone else. Also, who is going to chuck them out if they won’t leave? Every pub needs a bouncer or two then? The Gardai have enough to be doing.
@Bernard Sweeney: every pub? where are these pubs that all you types go too where every is peed out of their minds falling all over the place ? I certainly have not seen that. In our small town would be lucky to see 5 people in the pub pre covid. Mostly this is pure snobbery, As if no one ever saw a person drunk in a restaurant after a few bottles of vino. Would have been better to let restaurants open but not serve alcohol. Have you noticed the drop in reports of Garda catching actual criminals now they all being pup spies ?
@Da_Dell:
“As if no one ever saw a person drunk in a restaurant after a few bottles of vino”
Rare – certainly rarer than most pubs around the country.
“Have you noticed the drop in reports of Garda catching actual criminals now they all being pup spies”
No, because you’re talking dogs danglies. Are you cataloging reports of crime all day every day? Can you show me results of your extensive research? I bet you cant. It’s conjecture and anecdotal evidence isn’t really evidence of anything.
The Gardai are still doing the job they always did.
@Bernard Sweeney: have done about as much research as you.
@Da_Dell: why is your anecdotal evidence any more valid than anyone’s else’s? Was multiple articles daily in the journal alone about drug seizures, dont see to many if any these days
@Da_Dell: while your at it show your evidence about the pubs country wise ? You don’t have to bodder with the ones closed since march, that should make it easy for ya
@Da_Dell: are you deliberately being thick?
“…..evidence about the pubs country wise ? You don’t have to bodder (LOL) with the ones closed since march, that should make it easy for ya”
You know very well the point being made, look at the state of the pubs before lockdown, they couldn’t enforce social distancing. That’s why they were closed before the rest of the country.
As for articles in the journal….is that really the best you’ve got? That’s hardly a barometer of the work the Gardai are doing jesus christ. Also, if it were then since Phase 1 when we started coming out of lockdown articles here should have gone up yeah? The fact is, articles here prove nothing. Just so happens the journal these days has much more to post.
As for my anecdotal evidence……I’m not basing a word of this on anecdotal evidence, I’m being told this by people who know. Figure that out yourself.
So, he’s done no research, I’m getting it from the horses mouth and the pub stuff up to the lockdown was all over the news and, as you’re so trusting on this site, this very site.
Of course I can’t tar 100% of pubs with the same brush but we know for decades the way people behave in pubs after a feed of beer, I know, I drink too, thankfully not a much and as varied as I used to.
Stop pretending we’re like the well behaved Europeans drinking quietly and home in bed by 9pm.
@Bernard Sweeney: so what you are sayin is what you’ve heard and read is right and what anyone who disagrees with you hears or reads is wrong… ok you have your opinion and i dont agree with nor thankfully the people i know. Btw i dont talk to horses but to one brothers wife who is a garda and another a pub owner. Ive lived and worked in Spain, France and Germany so spare me your knowledge of the good europeans in bed before 9 nonsense. And I am soon off to Switzerland applied for job the day that excuse of a Gov was formed and got it. It should be a great experience to see how bad it is to live outside the EU utopia
@Da_Dell: oh an ive lived in the US and Oz too, but that was way back. I work in IT so great opportunities out there. As for trusting the journal, not a chance, as far as i am concerned they an integral part of Leos PR machine, but you keep getting your Pub knowledge from their well oiled gov pr spun narrative. Before ya try to say something else smart, i stuck it our here through the crazy celtic tiger years with crazy house prices and rents caused by an unknown phenomenon called a housing shortage, stuck it out when FG came into power on their fairytale promises of not one more cent to anglo, political reform and responsibility, instead then had to leave Ireland due to the austerity policies they inflicted on us, came back and that unknown phenomenon was alive and well.
@Da_Dell: iam not staying so that my income tax gets pillaged anymore to pay for their mistakes and pay rises. enough is enough
International travel spreads the virus. They know this. Dogs with mallets up their holes know this.
@Dan: so do house parties… actually more likely to based on the past few weeks…
@Dan: So does going to the shops.
@Bluechip78: Yeah but you HAVE to go to the shops…. You don’t have to travel abroad for a holiday.
@Seán O’Loughlin: Well you can have the shopping delivered but I do agree Sean.
I’m not planning to travel but the point is that travelling doesn’t spread the virus any more than other things.
Is international travel to the green countries any more risky than domestic travel?
@Dan: 2% travel 66% close contact 32% community transmission.
@Thomas Bourke: so do building sites and meat factories
“Incidence “…it’s about time the formula is changed to the EU recommended which is death per million , testing and tracing capacity & time of lab results and health systems response as well as measures in place . Incidence on its own is irrelevant.
Lets hope the list will be expanded in 2 weeks time to use the ECDC low threshold of 20 cases per 100k. So that we can be in line with what other EU countries are doing. As it stand our list is unnecessarily restrictive.
@Dr Pablo Rojas Coppari: the advice is still clear do not travel unless essential. Seeing relatives or a holiday is not essential. A larger list won’t change that
@Craic_a_tower: “The Department of Foreign Affairs website says that no non-essential travel is the general advice, but there are exemptions and the exemptions are the green list”
Maybe read what he said again. And in any case, at the end of the day. Advice is just advice. Some will take it others wont. Just like the public health advice is not to drink more than 21 units of alcohol per week, some follow that advice, others do not.
@Craic_a_tower: seeing family is essential no matter how many times you say it isn’t .
@Dr Pablo Rojas Coppari: precisely .
@Isabel Oliveira: nope. No matter how people try to contort it. Being in contact with them is essential not to be physically in their presence.
@Craic_a_tower: that’s your perspective and your choice . If you’re happy with that go for it. Don’t impose it on others .
@Craic_a_tower: A lot of people have not seen relatives since long before the pandemic. Its not your remit to decide who can or cannot travel. People are intelligent enough to make their own decisions.
@Isabel Oliveira: I am not imposing anything. People are lying by saying it is essential and that is the issue. Ignore the advice all you want just don’t lie about what they are doing. They are ignoring the advice because they want to because what ever way you try to twist it is certainly is not essential. I get people like to say everyone can have an opinion but they simply aren’t all valid. Essential has a definition you don’t get to redefine it and claim that is valid. Just be honest what I think or you think about that choice is irrelevant and not what I have said.
@Frances Casey: people are intelligent enough to make their own decisions? Weird how we have all these laws precisely because people aren’t. Do we trust peoples intelligence to drive at a safe speed?
@Isabel Oliveira: You are the one constantly trying to impose your ideas on others. What’s essential in your mind is only so in that context. In the wider context of society as a whole you seeing your family is definitely not essential and potentially risky to others on your return. If you want to go to Portugal or wherever to visit your family then just go but in the knowledge that you are required to self-isolate or restrict your movements on your return. Your constant repetition of the same points is beyond boring at this stage.
@Craic_a_tower: going to a restaurant is not essential either, nor a coffee shop
@Craic_a_tower: do taoiseachs drink topless in the park. Is that essential?
@Craic_a_tower: Oh please stop being so patronising its downright embarrassing. The comment was about what constitutes essential travel. Just because someone does not agree with your narrative does not make them wrong. If a person wanted to see family because it maybe the last time they ever would thats essential. Irrespective of whether you agree or not.
@Kevin Lonergan: you are not required to self-isolate. You are advised to ‘restrict your movements as much as possible’. It is very different.
@Frances Casey: don’t like liars what can I say?
Ah thanks Leo very kind of you to reiterate, maybe while your at it you can tell the truth that staying in Ireland on holiday in crowded tourist towns with much more people than usual because you have constantly said stay at home poses even more a risk than half empty holiday resorts in Greece or Cyprus… Nah I didn’t think you would.
Me fail English?? ….that’s unpossible!
@John Carolan: is that you Ralph?
Varadkar contradicted Pascal O’Donough this morning on RTE…The part time Taoiseacht Michael Martin can’t wait until his tenure is over… If he lasts that long.
Typical politician talk. Saying absolutely nothing
As oppose to the coalition government which is full of simpletons and has no chance of ever being straightforwd with the people
It’s just that I can’t brain today. I has the dumb.
@Logan Shepherd:
Ah you poor thing…. Go for a walk in the rain and you won’t know yourself!
Matter of fact, you might have to be introduced to yourself when you get back home.
@Joe Toner: Wouldn’t be the first time Joe :-)
Return flights to Palermo €125 sur you couldn’t say no to that lads!!! Sun sand and…
@Jonnie Marre: you shouldn’t have mentioned that. I’m now dreaming of an idyllic little beach just outside cefalu
He’s the taoiseach in waiting. Micheàl is just a temporary little arrangement. The media seems tired of Micheál already….
@Leonard O’mahony: At a guess I’d say most of the public are fed up with the whole bloody lot of them at the moment.:)
@Frances Casey: that’s the truth.
Yet with the lowest incidence in Europe here, you can’t go to a pub, madness!!
He’s not Taoiseach , he’s not Minister for foreign affairs . STFU Varadkar . Why are journalists pandering to him?
He’s quoting Alanis Morissette now, sigh.
It’s actually very simple. dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/a-z-list-of-countries tells you what the travel status is for every country. Syria is red and has a Do not travel. US is amber and has Avoid non-essential travel. Italy is green and has Normal precautions.
Ha ha …. another gem of wisdom . What exactly is that supposed to mean ??
A simpleton drew it up.
How long will this go on for. Will people be allowed to fly home for Christmas? News today about trouble in aerligus will the government bail them out if needed
Leo doesn’t always mean what he says.
What?
Doubt this will silence all the crazies shouting that you’re a horrible human being if you take your holidays.
@Adam Conroy: A holiday is not a basic human right. Growing up and accepting responsibility to help our tourism industry messsge does not make one a crazy.
WHAT A MUPPET
It’s simple , stay the home this year
I don’t understand the confusion around the so called Green List.
This was never meant to be a list of countries people are being told they should or can holiday in, or fly from Ireland to.
It’s a list of countries that if travelling from, you are not asked to self isolate for 14 days.
It is probably more valuable to people from Greenland and San Marino.
It’s so simple the Media cannot figure it out They should take A crash course on The English language
OR ARE THE media the New Opposition
@pat seery: yes since MM it seems the media are trying to look like proper investigative journalists been critical of the Taoiseach as opposed to the love in with Leo over last few years. They bend over backwards trying to defend Leo no matter what the case. They also seem to have collective amnesia of all the FG debacles pre the GE from swing gate to Dara, Leo having to apologise in the Dail for the ‘sinning’ behind the altar remarks about MM etc etc
@Da_Dell: How many times had Leo to apologise and correct the Dail record ? I wonder if there is a record .,,
So you can’t fly back to Poland but sure you can fly to Lithuania and then drive into northern Poland or fly from Vilnius to your onward destination.
Look at the positive: an influx of Monegasques coming to Ireland to cool off the Monaco heat wave to boost the Irish economy. One Monegasque billionaire in Ireland for a week is probably (my fun guess, not a researched fact) the equivalent of 500 ordinary tourists.
Blimey it’s the same people on every news article.
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