‘Too early’ for British holidaymakers to return to Ireland

The Irish premier has said it is too early for British holidaymakers to return to Ireland without being quarantined.

Micheal Martin said the advice from his Government to its citizens is to avoid any non-essential travel as they press for schools to reopen next month.

The Taoiseach said his Cabinet will discuss international travel further this week, including whether to strengthen resources at airports.

“We would be very cautious on international travel generally,” he said.

“On July 20 we will announce our measures in relation to international travel and essentially we have developed a methodology somewhat similar to the European Union and its relation with third countries; essentially, the methodology will be in relation to the level of the disease in particular countries, including the UK, countries that are at Ireland’s level or below.

“In terms of people coming in to Ireland, the advisory and the quarantining still remains and it’s under constant review. Why? Because there’s a lot of international volatility with this virus, we’ve seen a spike in numbers. We’re very concerned about that.”

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Martin emphasised that his Government wants to take a cautious approach.

“The suppression of the virus is key. We’ve watched reports where, in certain parts of the UK, there are still difficulties where certain areas had to go into lockdown and so on, and further severe restrictions,” he said.

He described doing “everything we possibly can” to avoid a second spike of the virus in the Irish Republic where the reproductive rate of Covid-19 was found to have increased to one last week.

“Clearly the agenda for government is very much dominated by the continued prevalence of the virus and we’re watching very carefully what is happening across Europe in terms of spikes and in terms of experiences of other member states who have opened up earlier than we have,” he added.

On Saturday, two more coronavirus-related deaths were confirmed in Ireland by the Department of Health, taking the total to 1,746.

As of midnight on July 10, 23 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were notified, taking the Irish total to 25,611.