Passengers arriving into the State from Britain who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will not be required to quarantine at home from July 19th, the Minister for Transport has confirmed.
Eamon Ryan said travel between Ireland and Britain will be "much easier" after this date, according to The Irish Times, coinciding with the State's adoption of the EU Digital Covid Certificate which will see the return of non-essential travel among EU member states.
Following Brexit, the UK is not included in the EU's travel scheme.
Currently, arrivals from Britain must provide evidence of a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before their journey, and must then quarantine at home for 14 days. Those who are fully vaccinated can 'test out' of quarantine after five days, while non-vaccinated arrivals must test negative on day five and day 10 before they can stop quarantining.
Speaking on RTÉ News, Mr Ryan said passengers from Britain who are not fully vaccinated will still have to quarantine at home after July 19th. "We will continue to review that," he added.
The tightened rules for arrivals from Britain had been implemented due to concerns over the Delta variant, however, "because that's here now as well as in the UK, it's not as significant," Mr Ryan said.
The Minister also reiterated his confidence that the system to operate the EU Covid certs will be "working well" by July 19th, with the certs due to be sent out to fully vaccinated people via post or email from next week.
