Varadkar rules out Ebola screening at Irish airports

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has ruled out the prospect of screening for Ebola at Irish airports.

An escalation of the crisis, which this week saw the first Ebola death in the United States and the first transmission of the disease within Europe, has prompted Britain and the United States to take measures designed to limit the odds of an outbreak on their soil.

Britain is to start screening passengers entering the country through London’s two main airports, as well as passengers arriving on the Eurostar rail link with Europe. Five major US airports are to introduce similar screening measures.

Meanwhile, Minister for Defence Simon Coveney is set to brief Cabinet colleagues on Irish preparations for an outbreak of Ebola disease.

Speaking before today’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Varadkar said the Government’s emergency task force met on Thursday and would brief the Cabinet later in the day “on our deliberations”.

“The chances of a case of Ebola in Ireland remain very low, but it’s important of course the Government and all the authorities prepare for it, and we are prepared for it,” he said.

“We decided not to introduce screening at airports really for two reasons. First of all, patients who have Ebola and are not symptomatic won’t show up on screening. However, huge numbers of people will show up on screening who just have another illness or viral infection.

“So while exit screening leaving West Africa makes sense, screening everyone coming to Ireland does not.”

He said the situation “will continue to be kept under review” but that the Government would be following the advice of the World Health Organisation.

Asked to give his assessment of how severe the Ebola crisis is, Mr Varadkar said it was the worst outbreak he could remember.

“Ebola has been around now since the 1970s,” he said. “It’s not a new threat. It’s one that we’ve been aware of for decades now. This is the worst outbreak that I can remember.

“It has spread from Africa to other continents. It’s still the case however that the chances of it coming to Ireland are very low, but we need to be prepared nonetheless.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said Mr Coveney would present expert analysis to fellow senior Ministers today.

“We discussed it very briefly actually at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. There has been one meeting at official level of the emergency task force and the Government mandated the Minister for Defence to convene a formal meeting at ministerial level of the task force,” Mr Howlin said.

He said that meeting took place during the week involving all the “key players” at ministerial and official level in the Departments of Defence, Health, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Transport.

“The analysis that came from that expert group will be presented I understand by the Minister for Defence to Cabinet later today as well.”