I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy as the HSE was responsible for the rent or lease of hotels for different purposes during the COVID-19 response.
However, as my Department separately operated and managed Mandatory Hotel Quarantine (MHQ), I have included a brief summary.
Following Government decision S180/20/10/2587 of 17 February 2021 and the subsequent passage of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 through the Oireachtas, MHQ commenced in March 2021 as one element of Ireland’s response to COVID-19. The MHQ system was introduced as an exceptional public health measure, given the serious risk of importation of variants of concern with the potential to overwhelm the health service and to undermine the national vaccination programme.
MHQ was operational for 6 months between 26 March – 26 September 2021, and in total, 10,398 people passed through the system. At the peak of operation some 60 states were designated, with the greatest number of persons in MHQ at one time reaching 1,008 on 9 May 2021. At the time of highest demand, MHQ had a capacity of 1,607 rooms spread across 8 hotels. These facilities were contracted with an associated suite of services including security, transportation, and medical care. In addition, the State mobilised resources to enable testing of staff and residents, incident response and on-site 24/7 State Liaison Office (SLO) functions (the latter provided by teams of Defence Forces personnel).
The MHQ system was provided for by primary legislation (the Health Act 1947, as amended) and had to be designed and implemented against extremely tight timelines. My Department entered into a contract with Tifco Hotel Group on 16 March 2021 providing for Tifco to take on the role of single service provider and this arrangement, with contractual extensions, ran to the end of August 2021. Following an open tender competition for the provision of MHQ services post the initial contract, my Department entered into a new contract with Tifco Hotel Group on 1 September 2021 for the continued provision of MHQ services until 31 October 2021.
