No choirs, no crowds: Flying home for Christmas

Dublin Airport never saw a Christmas so quiet, with only a handful of flights landing from around Europe, and a small number of people waiting outside the terminal for family members.

“It’s strange to not have a choir singing to you when you walk through the arrival gates but I’m happy to be home,” said Ethan Lawlor, from west Cork.

“I’m back for a month with the quarantine involved. I’m back to see my parents and my 14-year-old brother,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a few hikes and that kind of thing.” Most of the passengers on his flight from Warsaw were people from Poland, coming to visit their families who are living in Ireland.

That included Adrian Ceasalska, who was coming to Ireland for four days to see his brother. “I haven’t seen him in two years. It has been a long time,” he said.

Minister for Agriculture tests positive for Covid-19 prompting colleagues to restrict movements

---

‘Christmas isn’t all Santa and reindeer for everyone’

---

Government advised to bring in full six-week Level 5 lockdown with closure of non-essential retail

---

Childline reports surge in contacts during ‘very difficult year’

---

Tara and Rohmie Vigurs, two sisters from Co Clare, arrived from Malaga to a near empty airport. The sisters had been living in Spain for the past few months, where Tara found work, and Rohmie decided to live with her sister as her arts course at University of Limerick went online.

“She had a free room in her apartment and I thought I may as well study in the sun,” Rohmie said.

The sisters were returning for 10 days, during which they said they would get a private Covid-19 test, to see their parents and their younger brother.

“We’re very much a close family and love being together. Our younger brother said we’d have ruined Christmas if we didn’t come back,” Rohmie said, as Tara added: “Christmas is Christmas.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the HSE confirmed that people who have arrived in Ireland from Britain from December 11th will have to eat their Christmas dinner alone in their room.

The Government announced on Tuesday it had updated its advice for people who have travelled from England, Scotland or Wales to Ireland since December 8th.

Self-isolation

The new advice calls on people to self-isolate in their room, rather than simply restrict their movements, for 14 days from the date of their arrival in Ireland.

Dr Colm Henry, the HSE’s chief clinical officer, was asked on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland if that meant people who had arrived since December 11th had to eat Christmas dinner in their room.

“Sadly it does mean isolation in your room,” he said.

“I appreciate… not just how inconvenient this is but how painful this is for people who’ve waited so long to come home.”

The requirement to self-isolate includes people who have had a negative test, the HSE said, as these people could still be developing symptoms and pose a potential risk to others.

A test should be arranged through a GP within five days of a person’s arrival in Ireland from Britain and those who have already had a test privately must complete 14 days of self-isolation, regardless of the private test results, said a statement from the HSE.