Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 May 2020
378. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the level of compliance of passengers who arrived here in filling out the public health passenger locator form since it was introduced; the number who filled it in; the number who refused; and the number exempt as a total of the number of passengers who have arrived. [8178/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can inform the Deputy that Border Management Unit Immigration Officers at Dublin Airport, on behalf of the Health Authorities, commenced recording Passenger Locator Forms on 28 April 2020. These contacts were made as part of public health passenger checks under measures related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two calls are made to passengers following their arrival into the State, providing a Public Health Passenger Locator Form is completed. The calls are to confirm that the passenger is still residing at the address they provided on the form and to confirm if the passenger is self-isolating. Passengers are required to self-isolate for 14 days after they arrive into the State, and this includes Irish Residents.
The first call is made two days after the person’s arrival in the State. The second call is made twelve days after their arrival and where the person has indicated that their stay in Ireland would be for more than twelve days.
It is important to note that the BMU currently only collect the Passenger Locator forms for Dublin Airport. The Garda National Immigration (GNIB) manage the compliance for the other ports after which the Passenger Locator forms are forwarded to the BMU in Dublin Airport, who also carry out the follow-up calls for those ports.
At this time, the only data available that addresses all the questions raised by the Deputy refers to Dublin Airport. However, I have included data on the number of forms received and the percentage exempt for other Ports. We are unable to provide arrivals figures (expected forms) or numbers on those who refused to complete the form for other Ports. That information is being gathered from GNIB and will be forwarded to the Deputy when available.
Dublin Airport:
It should be noted that the number of actual arrivals differs from the number of expected forms due to the fact that only one form is required per family. Therefore the table below gives a breakdown of the total expected forms and of them the number that were completed and the number who refused to complete. The number exempt did complete a form but were exempt from the follow-up action and the requirement to self-isolate. The period covers 28 April 2020 up to 21 May 2020 inclusive and represents a compliance rate of more than 98%.
|
Dublin Airport |
28/04/2020 - 21/05/2020 |
|
Arrivals (Expected Forms) |
10,173 |
|
Completed Forms Received |
7,182 |
|
% Forms Compliance |
71% |
|
Passenger Declared No Form Provided by Airline |
2,779 |
|
Language Barrier |
26 |
|
Refused to Complete Form |
186 |
|
Percentage Exempt of Completed Forms |
2367 (33%) |
Other Ports: Forms for Other Ports are delivered to BMU at Dublin Airport for follow up action. As mentioned, BMU hold no records of the numbers of arrivals (expected forms) nor the number who refused to complete the forms for other ports. The data below includes numbers of forms received by BMU for follow-up action and of them the number who were exempt and therefore no follow-up action was required. The returns from other Ports are often inconsistent and therefore we are unable to provide data for Shannon Airport. In addition the period for each Port differs due to the logistics of the forms arriving from each location.
|
Dublin Port |
28/04/2020 - 21/05/2020 |
|
Total Forms Received by BMU |
6,044 |
|
Exempt |
5,171 |
|
Percentage Exempt |
86% |
|
Rosslare Port |
01/05/2020 - 19/05/2020 |
|
Total Forms Received by BMU |
1,545 |
|
Exempt |
1,273 |
|
Percentage Exempt |
82% |
|
Cork Airport |
29/04/2020 - 19/05/2020 |
|
Total Forms Received by BMU |
391 |
|
Exempt |
112 |
|
Percentage Exempt |
29% |
