Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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2119. To ask the Minister for Health the process by which the policy of mandatory hotel quarantine will end; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19903/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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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.

The mandatory quarantine system is under regular review by all facilitating stakeholders to ensure that it continues to serve its purpose in preventing the emergence of variants of concern in the state.

The Government continues to evaluate wider policy on international travel as informed by the epidemiological situation and public health advice. It is on this basis that steps to end the mandatory quarantine system will be considered, when appropriate and in when line with wider policy on international travel restrictions.