FROM THIS MORNING, all passengers arriving into Ireland must provide a pre-departure negative or not detected Covid-19 PCR test result taken within 72 hours prior to arrival.
Under the new rules signed off by Cabinet last week, passengers may be asked to present evidence of their test result before boarding their airplane or ferry.
Passengers could also be asked to produce this evidence to Immigration Officers or members of the gardaí on arrival into the country.
If they travel without a prior test result, passengers could be subject to a fine, or detention.
Ireland is signed up to the EU traffic lights approach on international travel, which defines certain regions as green, amber or red, depending on the level of the virus in that area.
Passengers arriving from green and orange regions, as defined by the EU traffic light system, will need to provide a negative test, but they do not need to restrict their movements once they arrive here.
There aren’t too many of those regions on the map right now, unfortunately.
Passengers entering Ireland from red and grey regions (countries outside of the EU like the US are defined as grey) will also need a negative test to fly into Ireland.
Travellers from these regions are requested to restrict their movements for 14 days.
However, this may be lifted on receipt of a second negative PCR test taken no less than 5 days after arrival.
There are also certain categories of travellers where the travel restrictions do not apply.
Exemptions include international transport workers, including hauliers, pilots and aviation crew, masters and maritime crew, and members of An Garda Síochána in the course of their duties.
Children under six will also be exempt.
If a citizen has a genuine emergency requiring urgent travel, they should contact the nearest Embassy or Consulate for advice before commencing their journey.
Yesterday, the UK scrapped travel corridors and introduced mandatory quarantine due to a surge in Covid rates.
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