Michael McNamara
Question:919. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Health the position regarding children travelling with applicable travellers (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21401/21]
View answerWednesday, 28 April 2021
Questions (919)
Written answers
Mandatory hotel quarantine has been introduced as one element of Ireland’s public health measures to combat the transmission of COVID-19 variants of concern.
The Health Act 1947, as amended, provides that all persons arriving in Ireland from a designated state, or having travelled through a designated state in the previous 14 days, are required to undergo mandatory quarantine in a designated facility unless they are an exempted traveller under the Act. All applicable travellers must reserve and pay for a place in mandatory hotel quarantine.
Mandatory hotel quarantine is also necessary in circumstances where passengers coming from non-designated states do not provide evidence that they have a negative or ‘not detected’ result from a COVID-19 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test carried out no more than 72 hours before arrival into Ireland.
Unaccompanied minors who have travelled from or through a designated state in the 14 days prior to arrival in Ireland will not be permitted to enter a mandatory quarantine facility alone. To board a flight/ferry to Ireland, an unaccompanied minor must produce a negative RT-PCR test within the last 72 hours and their passport.
Their adult guardian can enter mandatory hotel quarantine with them, however, if this is not possible a responsible adult collecting the unaccompanied minor must sign a guardian release letter undertaking in writing the legal responsibility for ensuring that, the unaccompanied minor, will complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine at a specified address and that it is possible to effectively isolate at the said address.
In instances where an unaccompanied minor is arriving in Ireland to attend boarding school, a school representative must present themselves to Irish Immigration authorities with proper identification and on arrival, they will fill in, sign and return the Guardian Release Letter to the Irish immigration official. It is a criminal offence to give misleading or fraudulent information to an Irish immigration official.
As of 17th April, passengers who are fully vaccinated and have the documents to confirm this are no longer required to complete mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival in Ireland. Dependents, including children, will also be exempted from the requirement to complete mandatory hotel quarantine in this instance.
Please note that the 4 EMA approved vaccines currently accepted have specific definitions for when a person would be considered fully vaccinated.
The following table sets out the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’;
|
Type of Vaccine |
You are regarded as fully vaccinated after |
|
Pfizer-BioNtech |
7 days after 2nd dose |
|
Moderna |
14 days after 2nd dose |
|
Oxford-AstraZeneca |
15 days after 2nd dose |
|
Johnson & Johnson/Janssen |
14 days after single dose |
Passengers who are fully vaccinated and exempt from hotel quarantine are still subject to other travel restrictions, such as the need to provide a negative pre-departure PCR test and complete a period of self-quarantine at home or wherever specified in their passenger locator form.
Neither I as Minister for Health nor my Department have a role in decisions relating to whether individual persons must enter mandatory quarantine or whether individual persons are exempted travellers. All such decisions are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
The Government continues to advise against all non-essential international travel.