Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
42. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason for creating a green list for travelling during Covid-19 in view of the fact the clear advice from the NPHET is to discourage all foreign travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18569/20]
View answerOn 21 July, the Government agreed a list of fifteen locations for which the advice against non-essential travel no longer applies. The travel advice for those locations now is to 'take normal precautions,' which is represented by a green bar under the system of country security ratings used by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The fifteen locations whose security status was changed to 'normal precautions'/ ("green") are: Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Monaco, San Marino and Slovakia.
The criteria for inclusion on the list are based on the current epidemiological situation and related public health information in each location. As I said earlier, the European territories in question had, over the previous 14 days, a similar or lower caseload of COVID-19 per 100,000 people than Ireland as reported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The list and related travel advice will be reviewed on a fortnightly basis, based on advice from officials including public health experts. Any updates or changes to travel advice will be made in line with Government decisions.
We are in the midst of a global pandemic, with more than 16 million people infected. The situation is developing rapidly and the government's message is clear that the safest option is to stay in Ireland.
