Travellers arriving in Cork and Shannon Airports must go to Dublin for mandatory hotel quarantine due to the lack of capacity in the Munster region.
According to the Irish Examiner, anyone arriving into Cork Port, Cork Airport, and Shannon Airport from other countries are being met by Defence Forces personnel upon arrival.
They are then transported by bus to the quarantine facilities in the capital where they are accommodated in the Crowne Plaza or the Holiday Inn Express at Dublin Airport, the Department of Health confirmed.
A spokesperson said: “Facilities in Cork or other regional locations have not been stepped up for the purposes of mandatory hotel quarantine at this point.”
Another spokesperson said: “Upon arrival into Ireland, regardless of whether you arrive by sea or by air, after immigration and customs processing you will be met by members of the Defence Forces who will ensure you are safely and securely transported from your port of entry to the location in which you will complete your pre-booked mandatory hotel quarantine.
“The vast majority of incoming passengers arrive through Dublin Airport, with a small number coming from Shannon, Cork and seaports,” they added.
Meanwhile, the demand for hotel quarantine facilities continues to rise as the Government added 16 extra countries to the hotel quarantine list last night.
Starting from 4am on Thursday, 15 April, visitors from this country must have booked themselves into a designated quarantine hotel at their own expense upon arrival into Ireland.
Minister Donnelly said: “Protecting public health as a matter of urgency has been to the fore of these decisions around mandatory quarantine. This is another strong move following public health advice relating to Variants of Concern with COVID.
"These variants pose a significant risk to our fight against this disease and our vaccination programme. This decision also reinforces Ireland’s biosecurity, ensuring we have the strongest measures in place in Europe.”
The 16 countries are:
Bangladesh
Belgium
France
Italy
Kenya
Luxembourg
Pakistan
Turkey
the USA
Canada
Armenia
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Curaçao
Maldives
Ukraine
Three countries are also to be removed from the list: Israel, Albania and St Lucia but those currently in quarantine are expected to complete it.
In addition, all travellers into Ireland from non-designated countries must continue to adhere to ‘Home Quarantine’, and in addition to their arrival negative PCR test, from next week they must have booked through the HSE an appointment for a further test on day 5.
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