Eamon Ryan has said the skies should be reopened for fully vaccinated people.
He said “there’s a need for pragmatism” in relaxing the restrictions on travel for those who can’t contract Covid.
The Minister for Transport indicated his preference for allowing people jet away on international travel trips - and for incoming tourists - as soon as they are protected by the jab.
And he said there isn’t even necessarily a need to wait for the highly-anticipated Digital Green Certificate from the EU, as this might not be in widespread use until the middle of August.
Mr Ryan told the Dáil this afternoon: “Already the principle is established in the Mandatory Hotel Quarantine (MHQ) regulations that vaccinated people should not be subject to MHQ.
“As the vaccine programme is rolled out, and large portions of the population are fully vaccinated, I would like to see this principle applied more broadly in the context of the opening of international travel, i.e., that fully-vaccinated people that do not present a public health risk of the spread of Covid-19 should not be subjected to pre-arrival testing or quarantine requirements.
“Given that the Digital Green Certificate might not be in widespread use until at least mid-August, it would seem to not be reasonable for people to wait for the Digital Green Certificate before allowing freedom from current pre-arrival PCR and quarantine requirements.
“There’s a need for pragmatism to allow for an early discontinuation of these public health requirements for fully-vaccinated people to travel within the EU and between certain non-EU EEA countries.”
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