Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 May 2021
164. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Health if maritime workers who are Irish citizens are exempt from the mandatory hotel quarantine system if they work on oil rigs abroad and are returning home to visit family; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23319/21]
View answerThe 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. The full list of exempted travellers is available on gov.ie/quarantine.
The provisions of the Act also allows for travellers to request a review of decisions relating to their quarantine. However this can only be undertaken once quarantine has begun.
The Act refers to a "...maritime master or maritime crew who arrives in the State in the course of performing his or her duties" as an exempted traveller. This provision applies only to maritime crew on-board ship serving Irish ports who arrive in the state as part of their duties.
Neither I as Minister for Health nor my Department have any 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.
