Relax advice on Christmas travel, says Oireachtas transport committee

Members of the Oireachtas transport committee have called for the relaxation of advice on non-essential travel around Christmas in order to support the aviation sector.

On Wednesday, the committee launched a report calling for an increased role for testing to allow for greater resumption of travel, including closer examination of cheaper antigen – or saliva – tests in airports.

Speaking at the launch of the report on Wednesday, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe said that the "mantra" of essential travel only "has to change".

“This essential travel totally cripples our tourism sector, our travel agents who have been here also giving testimony, and it ensures that aviation stays on lockdown, shut down for many months to come.”

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Mr Crowe said a bilateral deal on a traffic light system with the United States should also be struck, perhaps as soon as by Christmas.

Sinn Féin transport spokesman Darren O’Rourke said getting testing and tracing right at airports would be a key part of relaxing restrictions. “And if we achieve that, I think there is real opportunity to expand the scale of foreign travel and reconsider the public health advice,” he said.

Committee chair Kieran O’Donnell said that the committee believes that more travel can be facilitated by improving pre-flight testing. The report published by the committee today recommends that pre-departure antigen testing for passengers from orange and red countries be made mandatory, and that such a test would allow them to avoid the need to restrict their movements on arrival.

“We believe that what we’re putting forward is safe. It provides a situation whereby people on an aeroplane will know all the other passengers are testing negative.”

‘Liberalising restrictions’

Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley said that the committee feels "justified" in advancing the case that Government "move towards a position of liberalising the restrictions as soon as possible with appropriate controls and appropriate level of testing".

We think it’s appropriate to begin the process of opening up the aviation sector and opening up the movement of people in and out of the country,” he said, which would be better than the current “closed door approach”.

The report published today by the committee recommended the State subsidise the cost of more-expensive PCR tests so passengers do not have to pay more than €50 each, and argued for the acceleration of studies on the use of antigen – or saliva – testing at airports. It also recommended that the travel industry be represented on the HSE’s working group on antigen testing.

Research into effectiveness of antigen testing by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has found that the rapid tests currently available are not suitable for screening asymptomatic groups of people with unknown levels of disease. Further research is under way by the HSE.

The committee’s report also called for more supports for the aviation sector, including the extension of wage subsidies throughout next year, and asked that the Government seek a derogation on strict State aid rules so it can provide emergency funding to Irish airports.

It said arrivals from orange and red countries should both be allowed avoid restricting their movement if they could present evidence of a negative Covid test within three days of arrival, and said a traffic light system for travel should be developed with countries outside the EU. It called for the re-establishment of a state airport authority, encompassing Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports along the same model as the CIE.

When he appeared before the committee in November, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said there is a "substantial risk" associated with international travel, and that even if testing of passengers were introduced with a five-to-seven day period of restricted movement and a symptom check on day five, up to 15 per cent of imported cases would still be missed.