A man has described the mandatory hotel quarantine system in Ireland as an "utter disaster" after he was told to "just go on out" after arriving into Dublin Airport from Canada.
Jonathan Morrissey condemned the lack of information and personnel available to him once he arrived in Ireland with his place in the hotel quarantine facility booked.
Arriving from Canada on June 1, Mr Morrissey had to pre-book his hotel and provide a negative RT-PCR Covid test within 72 hours of arrival, under the current laws surrounding public health in Ireland.
The law also states that "once you arrive in Ireland - you have to provide this evidence to Irish immigration officers," however Mr Morrissey said that no one was at the customs desk in Dublin Airport to ask for his passport, or to stop and ask him where he was going.
"I found this odd as a member of the Defence Forces was supposed to meet after I went through customs," Mr Morrissey said on Twitter.
"I looked around and couldn’t find anyone except a guy sitting at the door of the airport stopping people coming into the airport."
Mr Morrissey said that once he left the airport, he spotted someone outside who was preventing people from entering Dublin Airport.
He proceeded to ask the man for information on where to go to get to his hotel, to which he replied that "he had no idea, sorry”, but offered to let Mr Morrissey “just go on out, I’ll say I didn’t see you."
Having already paid $3,000 for the hotel and not wanting to incur a fine for breaking the law, Mr Morrissey went to find a member of An Garda Síochána, who helped him find a member of the Defence Force.
The member of the Defence Force, Mr Morrissey claims, didn’t ask for any ID or any booking for the hotel and "got lost on the way to the bus twice."
Once on the bus, Mr Morrissey said he was told that I was now going to a different hotel as I arrived later than expected, and waited for an hour before departure.
"8 more people came on the bus and 5 of them took off their masks for the entire drive. No one ever instructed them to put them back on," he added.
He also questioned the point of remaining in quarantine for 10 days, after he received another negative Covid-19 test the day after he arrived in Ireland, making the point that he was not likely to come in contact with anyone owing to the fact that he is currently quarantining.
"I do think the fact I could have easily walked right out into Ireland is a disgrace.
"This is exactly how the disease spreads and how variants get into the country.
A press officer from the Defence Forces told the Irish Daily Mirror that they cannot comment on individual cases.
The Department of Health were also contacted for comment but gave no reply at the time of publication.
