Ban on flights from Britain to be extended beyond Tuesday

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has said it likely that a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain will be extended beyond Tuesday.

He also said it was not yet known whether the recent sharp increase in cases in Ireland had any link to a more infectious strain of Covid-19 which has been reported in Britain.

The Government on Sunday announced a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain, although ferries will still operate for haulage.

“I think realistically it is hard to see that things are going to change in the next few days. It is more a review of the mechanisms that are being used or how it is working but I think there is not a high probability that we would be returning to a schedule of flights straight away,” Mr Ryan said.

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He said the Government would use “flexible mechanisms” to manage the repatriation of Irish citizens who were, for example, transiting through the UK on their way home.

Mr Ryan said the British government had estimated only a fraction of people transiting through Britain were on their way to Ireland compared with previous years.

Ferries will continue to operate but only for haulage. “We do want to maintain freight traffic as we need it for the essential food supply chain and other reasons,” the Minister said.

Asked how he would stop people boarding ferries if they could get access, he said there would be “co-operation with the ferry companies in terms of how they manage it”.

Cross-Border travel

In relation to cross-Border travel between the Republic and Northern Ireland, Mr Ryan said there were no immediate consequences for Border crossings.

He said the Stormont executive was “fully up to speed with what we are doing”.

The Government made the decision to ban travel from the UK in light of concerns about a more infectious strain of Covid-19 which has been reported by British authorities.

Mr Ryan said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said it is likely the strain is circulating in other jurisdictions.

“We should err on the side of caution. We have seen a significant spike in the last two or three days, we don’t know yet whether that is connected to a more virulent strain. We will have to follow Nphet advice and that will come from genome testing and monitoring.”