Mandatory hotel quarantine for people arriving into Ireland from abroad is still three to four week away, Justic Minister Helen McEntee has said.
Ms McEntee said the law will be debated in the Dáil in the next week and that in the next three to four weeks she expects hotels to be accepting people for mandatory quarantine from the 20 countries that were designated as high risk destinations due to emerging Covid-19 variants.
I fully appreciate that people may feel that this is not happening quick enough but we are talking about introducing legislation. We are the first country in Europe to introduce this type of measure, Minister McEntee said on Morning Ireland.
Were talking about legislation that will essentially mean people must go into a hotel quarantine for two weeks when they enter this country. We must make sure that peoples rights are protected but that we do this on public health grounds. We need to get this right, this is not legislation that we could rush, she said.
The law will mean anyone arriving from the countries will have to quarantine in a hotel designated by the government for two weeks and will have to pay for the quarantine themselves.
The Justice Minister said that cabinet will provide increased clarity on the reopening of society and a pathway out of lockdown tomorrow but could not clarify what the Taoiseach meant by mid-summer, when referencing the reopening of pubs and restaurants.
I know how much people are suffering and I know how hard this lockdown has been, more than the previous two. We need to make sure this is the last lockdown and to make sure that when we reopen our society, that it is done in a careful and phased way.
The government will try to provide as much clarity as possible to people tomorrow, Ms McEntee said.
Minister McEntee wanted to reassure those working in the entertainment and hospitality sectors that the government is planning beyond Covid and thinking about the future of these industries.
Justice Plan 2021, which has over 200 actions within it, includes changes in the nighttime economy laws geared towards giving as many cultural offerings as possible.
It includes the proposition of extending the trading hours of late bars and nightclubs in an attempt to support these businesses, which were hit hard during the pandemic.
At the weekends, thousands of people come on to our streets as everything closes at the same time, how can we change that and acknowledge that different people have different things to offer so its not just about people at home but also tourists, Minister McEntee said
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