Ireland’s Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, is considering placing a cap on the number of arrivals allowed to enter the country to prevent the hotel quarantining system coming under too much pressure.
A row between Mr Donnelly and Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney broke out last week after public health officials recommended 43 countries, including a number of EU states and the US, be added to banned list.
Mr Donnelly said the advice he has received around variants from a number of EU countries including Austria, France, Germany, and Italy is of “particular concern” and he wants to add more states to the list.
Mr Donnelly said: “What I would be in favour of is picking the right countries and having mandatory hotel quarantining in place. Australia and New Zealand do have a cap in place, so that’s certainly something that can be looked at.”
