CHANGES TO THE government’s so-called Green List come into effect from today, with the list going from 10 countries to seven.

Italy, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, Greenland and Estonia have all been removed from the list, while Germany, Poland and Iceland have been added.

The new list, which came into effect at midnight, is as follows:

• Cyprus*
• Finland*
• Germany
• Iceland*
• Latvia*
• Lithuania*
• Poland

*These jurisdictions currently have quarantine requirements or other restrictions for arrivals from other jurisdictions, including Ireland

People can travel to the countries on the list for non-essential travel and return to Ireland without a need to restrict their movements.

However the Level 3 restrictions currently in place in Dublin apply for both domestic and overseas travel, meaning people in the capital won’t be able to go abroad except for essential reasons.

The advice for people in other counties is to avoid non-essential travel abroad, other than to countries on the Green List, where the advice is to take normal precautions.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the Department of Foreign Affairs advises “against non-essential travel overseas (including to Great Britain but not to Northern Ireland), other than to countries on the ‘green list’ where the ‘normal precautions’ security status rating will apply”.

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On 15 September, the government agreed the Green List will be updated on a weekly basis.

The new system will see EU/EEA countries with an incidence rate of fewer than 25 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past fortnight included on the Green List.

Updates will be made each Thursday based on the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, with changes taking effect from the following Monday.