Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 July 2021
438. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of persons who have arrived in Ireland from the UK since the requirement for home quarantining was introduced; the number of those who have taken PCR tests after five days of quarantining as has been the rule up until now; and the percentage of those PCR tests that are negative and positive, respectively. [33015/21]
View answerSince 4th February travellers arriving from the Great Britain to Ireland have been required to complete a period of 14-day home quarantine. Under the current regulations (S.I. 135/2021) this legal requirement to home quarantine can be shortened if a negative/not-detected result is obtained from a PCR test taken no less than 5 days after arrival.
All passengers arriving into the state are required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form (PLF) in accordance with SI 45/2021. There are limited exemptions from this requirement, as set out in the regulations, such as for international transport workers or for diplomats. It should be noted that PLF data does not constitute formal arrival data into the state, due to the different intended purpose for the system and also the number of exempted persons as set out above. In addition, some passengers may complete a PLF in advance but be unable to travel as intended, and the data below may include some duplicates for certain travellers. Passengers may have completed a PLF and continued their journey without staying overnight in the state or having transiting onto Northern Ireland.
According to data provided by the Passenger Locator Form service provider the total number from the UK is 135,390 for the period 4th Feb 2021 to 13th July 2021. This figure only accounts for the incoming adult passengers and does not take into account children arriving to the State.
On 4 June, the HSE launched a test booking facility which allows intending travellers to Ireland to pre-book a RT-PCR test from the HSE, free of charge, five days after their arrival. The test may be booked at a time and place convenient to the address the person will be staying at. In addition, any person wishing to take a test may also present as a walk-in at any of the HSE swabbing centres located around the country, details of which are available on the HSE website. It is not possible to provide statistics on tests booked through the platform by country of travel.
