New legislation to enforce mandatory quarantine in hotels for passengers from high-risk countries has been signed into law.
President Michael D Higgins penned the Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 this morning.
The law means that people coming into the county from a current list of 33 countries will have to quarantine for 14 days after their arrival if they don't have a negative Covid-19 test.
The Government haven't announced yet what facilities will be used for quarantine purposes and how much it will cost each person, but it is understood to be around €2,000 per adult.
The Defence Forces are expected to play a role in transporting people to hotels for mandatory quaratine.
They are also expected to be part of getting hotels ready due to their expertise in logistics and setting up camps.
The day-to-day operations will be taken care of by a private security company.
No exact date has been specified yet as to when the system will be up and running.
It comes after Taoiseach Micheal Martin hailed the coronavirus vaccine rollout after the number of doses administered hit the half a million milestone.
In a video posted on Twitter, the Taoiseach said he had been inspired by recent visits to vaccination centres where thousands of frontline healthcare workers were receiving the inoculation.
He said the Government and the HSE are doing everything they can to secure supplies and to give vaccines to people as quickly as possible.
The first coronavirus vaccine in Ireland was was given to Dublin pensioner Annie Lynch 63 days ago.
"Next week we will begin to vaccinate those with underlying health conditions as well as continuing to vaccinate the over-70s and healthcare workers," Mr Martin said.
The Taoiseach said the vaccines are reducing the impact of the virus, adding: "This can be seen in the reduced levels of infection in our nursing homes and amongst our frontline healthcare workers
"This brings hope, along with the continued fall in Covid numbers, thanks to the sacrifices you have been making.
"The 14-day incidence level fell below 200 this week for the first time since Christmas.
"While our health services are still under pressure, the number of patients in our hospitals and ICUs is reducing significantly."
However, he added a note of caution, warning that variants of the virus mean people should not relax in observing restrictions.
On Saturday the number of patients with Covid-19 dropped to 99, with the number of cases in hospital at 401.
Paul Reid, chief executive of the HSE, described it as a "great sign".
On Saturday, 14 further deaths with Covid-19 were notified, along with another 539 infections were confirmed.
As of 8am, 414 Covid-19 patients were in hospital, of whom 101 are in intensive care units.
