Ryanair called on the Government to add Portugal to its green list on Friday, saying there was a lower risk of contracting Covid-19 in some European countries than in the Republic.
The Irish airline group has repeatedly criticised Government restrictions that require travellers from the UK and most EU states, key trading partners of the Republic, to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving here.
The airline followed demands earlier this week that the Government add Germany and the UK to its green list with a call on Friday that it include popular sunspot Portugal as well.
Travellers arriving in the Republic from countries on the green list do not have to quarantine.
Ryanair pointed out that medical experts and scientists in the UK, which has added Portugal to its safe travel list, had agreed quarantine restrictions were not need for travellers from the southern European country.
The airline said the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) had subjected Irish people to unique and isolationist restrictions since July 1st, when most other EU states began opening up to travel.
Ryanair argued that despite this, the Republic had one of the fastest-rising coronavirus rates in Europe, "with Irish citizens more likely to contract Covid in Kerry and Kildare than they are in Portugal, Germany or the UK".
The airline demanded that the Government end “NPHET’s mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis” along with the limited green list, which Ryanair said penalised business travellers from countries with lower infection rates than here.
Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, the airline group's biggest unit, said that the Government and NPHET continued to mismanage travel restrictions between the Republic and the EU.
“It is time for the Government to remove these ineffective travel restrictions, and add countries such as Germany, the UK and Portugal to Ireland’s green list,” he added.
European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) figures published by Ryanair show that the Republic had 26 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday August 28th. Portugal had 28, the UK 20 and Germany 18.
Earlier this week, Ryanair Holdings group chief executive, Michael O'Leary, argued that the Republic's travel restrictions had failed to prevent a recent spike in Covid-19 cases here.
Most EU states opened up travel to other nations in the bloc at the start of July, using safe travel guidelines issued jointly by the ECDC and European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
