70% of Irish people are in favour of Covid-19 vaccine passport system being implemented in Ireland
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70% of Irish people are in favour of Covid-19 vaccine passport system being implemented in Ireland

MORE THAN two-thirds of Irish people say they'd support the idea of a Covid-19 vaccine passport being implemented for passengers travelling in and out of the country.

On Wednesday we here at the Irish Post ran a poll via our Twitter account to gauge whether our followers would be in favour of vaccine passports or not.

Results show that a whopping 69% of respondents said they think Ireland should adopt such a system, while 31% said they thought it was a bad idea.

It comes a day after news broke that airlines around the globe would trialling vaccine passports systems over the coming weeks, to test whether they can be successfully implemented.

The International Air Travel Association (IATA), a trade organisation of the world's airlines, has confirmed that a 'Covid Travel Pass' system will be ready "within weeks".

It's understood that the pass can be accessed via a smartphone app, and will allow each airline to see which passengers have received Covid-19 vaccinations, and which passengers have recently tested negative for the virus, allowing those passengers to travel freely.

The app will also verify that the testing or vaccination a passenger has received has been administered by an approved authority.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar confirmed last week that vaccine passports were going to be a part of Ireland's future, suggesting that a type of QR code would be used to determine which passengers have received the jab.

"I see the advantage in people being able to prove they've had the vaccine and/or that they've tested negative," he said.

"I know that we have an immunisation document ready that people will get with a QR code on it to show that they have been immunised."

While many hailed the idea as a significant step towards reopening society, it must be said that the passports haven't been popular with everyone.

Ryanair, for one, have consistently said they won't require passengers to provide proof of a vaccine, arguing that doing so for people travelling to destinations around Europe is pointless because they could easily make the same journey in a car where no vaccine passport is required.