Over 50,000 people flew into Ireland over the festive period, a new report has revealed.
Between December 21 and January 3, 54,311 travellers touched down across the Republic.
Unsurprisingly, the majority were via Dublin Airport.
After the Government banned travel from the UK four days before Christmas, only 1,444 people came through the arrivals doors at the three main Irish airports - Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
The stats, which came from the Department of Justice via the Irish Times, also revealed that 1,160 of those who flew in were repatriated Irish people, flown back after the travel ban was installed.
Yesterday, a record daily total of 8,248 confirmed coronavirus cases were recorded in Ireland, along with 20 further deaths - the highest figure since May.
Meanwhile, three new cases of the South African variant were confirmed by NPHET, all of which were associated with foreign travel.
There are fears that the mutated form of coronavirus could be resistant to vaccines, although public health chiefs here say there is not enough information to determine that.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: "Three cases of a new variant of Covid-19 recently identified in South Africa have been confirmed in Ireland today by whole genome sequencing.
"All of the cases identified are directly associated with recent travel from South Africa.
“Anyone who has travelled from South Africa recently is advised to self-isolate for 14 days and identify themselves through a GP for testing as soon as possible.
“We are particularly advising healthcare workers travelling from South Africa, that it is essential that they self-isolate for 14 days before entering/re-entering the workplace.’’
