Does anyone know why Irish travellers from say Dublin are allowed into the UK with no covid test requirement yet the reverse is not true.
Both are part of The CTA , so if they don't let us in test free why do we extend that privilege to them ?
That's really an issue for the UK Government. Given that it is illegal for Irish people to travel internationally for non-essential purposes, I would assume that the UK government view the risk as minimal.
On the other hand, people entering Ireland on UK flights could be coming from anywhere (there aren't many flights from anywhere other than Heathrow at the moment), and as such the Irish public health officials view it as a risk.
But their infection rates per 100,000 are higher than ours so what is the reason bearing in mind it is supposed to be a CTA ?
I read anecdotal accounts that they were all bailing out for Holidays to Dubai et al before a clamp down.
I've recently had to cancel a Break to Dublin as they have provisionally set June 2nd as the date for Hotels to reopen when it was May 29th not so long ago.
Same NI, had booking for May 21st and Hotels now due to open May 24th.
I would remind you that Ireland is an independent country - we are entitled to implement our own public health measures, irrespective of the CTA, the provisions of which I would point out only apply to Irish and UK citizens. There are virtually no common visas that allow travel to both the UK and Ireland. Separate immigration requirements apply to enter Ireland and the UK for non-Irish/UK citizens.
You ought to really check things before booking trips like that. The Government never said that hotels would reopen on May 29th. The first indication of any reopening was last Thursday when it was announced that hotels and accommodation would reopen on June 2nd,
subject to the public health situation at the time. There are no guarantees about this. Bars and restaurants won't reopen until June 7th at the earliest, and that will be for outdoor service only.
I certainly would not be expecting travel restrictions into/out of Ireland to be lifted until July at the earliest given that vaccinations are only ramping up here now, and it will be the end of June before a critical mass of the population is vaccinated. We are about six weeks behind the UK in terms of vaccinating our population, due to the well publicised supply issues back in February.
Ireland long ago gave up respecting the CTA and systematically checks passports/ID for passengers arriving from GB. Whilst one can notionally travel with a driving licence, if one’s place of birth is outside the UK or Ireland the Gardaí can give one quite a hard time.
On the other hand, Ireland only brought in regulations requiring GB arrivals to quarantine from 4 February. Prior to that it was advisory only. The country, where I have many relatives and friends, is obsessed with the notion that all or materially all of its Covid cases are being brought in by nasty foreigners, a notion not in any way supported by data.
The simple reason for implementing the immigration checks at Irish airports some considerable time ago was that it was found that there were significant numbers of people entering Ireland illegally via flights from the UK. As a sovereign country, I think that our government are well within their rights to do so if it is an issue.
Immigration officials from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) operate the immigration checks at Irish airports (not members of An Garda Síochána). They are obliged to satisfy themselves that arriving passengers are entitled to avail of the provisions of the CTA, and generally involves checking the documentation and asking questions to establish their nationality.
The UK government clearly do not see illegal immigration through Ireland as a major issue, but for the record, UK Border Force do instigate intelligence lead spot checks at UK airports on flights from Ireland from time to time - I've experienced it myself.
There certainly were large outbreaks around New Year that were traced back to people coming home for Christmas and flouting the request about self-isolating. Our health service just doesn't have the capacity to deal with the risk of that happening again, hence the request to self-isolate becoming a mandatory rule. All parties in the Dáil supported this change.
How do they know if you're a UK citizen from that? It's quite possible to be born in the UK and have a UK driving licence and not be a UK citizen.
As above, it can ultimately be professional judgement based on asking a series of questions.
With respect, that is not quite true what you say, at least for ferry passengers. Up to the end of 2019 I made numerous journeys with my car to Ireland through Rosslare and Dublin and have NEVER been asked for ID either when checking in or upon arrival in Ireland. Has it changed recently? Also the Aer Lingus website makes it clear that any form of "official" photo ID is OK for UK or Irish citizens, this includes bus passes and works ID provided they have a photo. I would guess that the main reason that passports have become the norm are that Ryanair who convey so many in normal times have always only accepted passports as ID.
Completely agree with your last para. by the way!
The main perceived risk was people arriving illegally into Ireland by air not ferry but the current situation does see public health rules banning all non-essential nternational travel into/out of Ireland and requiring those who do travel to have a negative test and to self-isolate on arrival.
. Gardaí (acting as the GNIB) perform checks at all other Irish airports.
