GUIDELINES ON MANDATORY HOTEL QUARANTINE IN IRELAND
On 26th March 2021 mandatory hotel quarantine was introduced in Ireland in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The system is legislated for under the Health (Amendment) Act 2021 which makes provision for:
‘the mandatory quarantine of persons coming into the State from certain areas from where there is known to be sustained human transmission of Covid-19 or any variant of concern.’
Therefore, any person travelling from a designated State or any person who has been in a designated State 14 days prior to entering Ireland is obliged to complete mandatory hotel quarantine which can be pre-booked at:
https://www.quarantinehotelsireland.ie/
Additionally, any person arriving from a non-designated State without a ‘not detected’ PCR test result taken within 72 hours of their arrival must also complete mandatory hotel quarantine.
The list of designated States is updated regularly and the full list can be found at:
There are several circumstances under which a person can be exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine.
These include:
- transit passengers who do not leave the port or airport before leaving the State
- a person who has completed a full course of an EMA approved vaccine
- persons travelling to the State to compete in a Sports Ireland certified sports event
- an adult resident of Ireland who is accompanying a child who was not born in the State and has never previously been in Ireland, travelling for the purpose of becoming ordinarily resident in Ireland
- a person who is returning to Ireland having gone abroad for unavoidable, imperative and time-sensitive medical reasons and in possession of medical certification of this
- a person arriving in the State in the course of their duty and who hold a valid Annex 3 certificate (ensuring the availability of goods and essential services)
- drivers of a heavy goods vehicle arriving in the State in the course of their duty
- airline pilots, aircrew, maritime master or maritime crew and who arrive in the State in the course of performing their duties
- a person travelling to the State pursuant to an arrest warrant, extradition proceedings or other mandatory legal obligation
- a member of An Garda Síochána or Defence Forces travelling to the State in course of their duty
- a person travelling to the State for unavoidable, imperative and time-sensitive medical reasons and these reasons are certified by a registered medical practitioner or person with equivalent qualifications outside the State
- a person having been outside of the State to provide services to or perform the functions of an office holder (under any enactment or the Constitution) or a member of either house of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament
- diplomats and certain other categories of persons entitled to privileges and immunities in the State
Further information on these categories can be found at:
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are affected by this notice or by the matters raised in this blog.
