A LIST of countries Irish people will be allowed to travel to is set to be announced by the government at the start of next month.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed that Ireland would be partially lifting travel restrictions as the nation begins to enter Phase Three of lockdown.
The announcement is due by July 9, and it will provide citizens with a list of countries where trips will be possible without excessive quarantining.
Varadkar cautioned though that the list will be made in coordination with the EU and will be subject to change and could be updated every fortnight.
"There’s no single criteria that will be used, but it’ll be a mix of epidemiological criteria that will be used to create that list of countries," Varadkar said.
"But I do need to caution people that that list of countries will be reviewed and will change, and may change every two weeks, so we may see it getting longer, but if another if a country ends up having a second wave or are there particular spikes then they may be taken off our list as well."
At present, anyone arriving into Ireland must self-isolate for a 14-day period to minimise any potential spread of Covid-19, though these rules are due to relax as Phase Three is kicked into gear.
Due to the lack of quarantining and self-isolation demands, checks and screenings at ports and airports are set to increase.
"It’s a much better way of making sure we get the accurate data from people that they fill it in. As they check-in online. A couple of other changes in the airports as well,” Varadkar added.
