James Lawless
Question:580. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Health if he will provide clarification on the position of posted workers (details supplied). [43359/20]
View answerTuesday, 15 December 2020
Questions (580)
Written answers
Currently, all passengers entering Ireland from orange, red, and grey regions are requested to restrict their movements for 14 days. This general request to restrict movement for 14 days does not apply to certain defined categories, including travellers with an essential function or need as set out in paragraph 19 of EU Council Recommendation 2020/1475.
Paragraph 19 lists categories of travellers with an essential function or need who should not be required to undergo quarantine while exercising this essential function. These include:
Workers or self-employed persons exercising critical occupations including health care workers, frontier and posted workers as well as seasonal workers as referred to in the Guidelines concerning the exercise of the free movement of workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The guidelines referred to are contained in the Official Journal of the European Union, issue 63. The guidelines list workers in critical occupations, including frontier and posted workers, as those exercising the following occupations:
- Health professionals including paramedical professionals;
- Personal care workers in health services, including care workers for children, persons with disabilities and the elderly;
- Scientists in health-related industries;
- Workers in pharmaceutical and medical devices industry;
- Workers involved in the supply of goods, in particular for the supply chain of medicines, medical supplies, medical devices and personal protective equipment, including in their installation and maintenance;
- Information and Communications Technology Professionals;
- Information and Communications Technicians and other technicians for essential maintenance of the equipment;
- Engineering professionals such as energy technicians, engineers and electrical engineering technicians;
- Persons working on critical or otherwise essential infrastructures;
- Science and engineering associate professionals (includes water plant technicians);
- Protective services workers;
- Firefighters/Police Officers/Prison Guards/Security Guards/ Civil Protection Personnel;
- Food manufacturing and processing and related trades and maintenance workers;
- Food and related products machine operators (includes food production operator);
- Transport workers, in particular:
- Car, Van and Motorcycle Drivers, Heavy Truck and Bus Drivers (includes Bus and tram drivers) and ambulance drivers, including those drivers who transport assistance offered under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and those transporting repatriated EU citizens from another Member State to their place or origin;
- Airline pilots;
- Train drivers; wagon inspectors, maintenance workshops’ staff as well as the infrastructure managers’ staff involved in traffic management and capacity allocation;
- Maritime and inland navigation workers;
- Fishermen;
- Staff of public institutions, including international organisations, in critical function.