A bill that would see the return of mandatory hotel quarantine passed all stages in the Dail on Thursday night.
Next, the Health Amendment Bill 2021 will go before the Seanad.
Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, told the Dail the bill would “strengthen Ireland's ability to respond to the ongoing and emerging threat to public health from Covid-19”, and, in particular, the Omicron variant.
“The Irish government has decided at this point to reintroduce the legal basis for hotel quarantine should it be deemed necessary to reintroduce hotel quarantine in response to the threat posed by the Omicron variant,” he said in a speech before the vote.
The Minister said he expects to see more cases of the new strain in Ireland following the discovery of one case on Wednesday, December 1.
This bill would allow the Government to be in a “better position to react quickly” if the situation with Covid-19 deteriorates.
The Health Amendment Bill 2021 would allow mandatory hotel quarantine to be re-introduced if it was deemed necessary. The legislation behind it would be commenced “if and when” it would be appropriate to do so.
While this bill is very similar to previous versions of it, there will be some changes, as a result of the “lessons learnt” from last time.
It would allow for temporary mandatory quarantine for those coming into the state from high-risk areas, as well as those who do not comply with requirements for Covid-19 testing.
