THE IRISH government is being told to tone down its advice about non-essential travel this Christmas.
Earlier this week, the Government officially gave the green light for any Irish abroad to fly home for the holidays, after weeks of discouraging people from booking flights.
They began encouraging anyone travelling home to avail of the 'traffic light system' rules, the extent of which will depend on which country they're travelling from.
"We've agreed as a Government that if people do travel we are asking them to follow those traffic light rules," Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday.
"So if you're coming from an amber light area, there are very few of them, make sure you have a test before you travel, a negative test."
But now it appears the advice is set to change again, with the Oireachtas Transport Committee of TDs and Senators urging the Government to take new approach.They want the Government to work with Irish airports to bulk up Covid-testing for pre-departure travellers from regions designated 'orange' and 'red' under the traffic light system, according to the Irish Examiner.
But the committee wants the government to go further, and actually demand that passengers provide a negative Covid-test before flying, meaning that they wouldn't have to face any domestic travel or isolation restrictions when they arrive in Ireland.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Canavan from the Department of the Taoiseach has urged people not to fly home from abroad, because Ireland is "not out of the woods yet" in the fight against Covid-19.
"We are asking most people who can skip this year and come next year instead," she said.
"Looking at travel projections for the Christmas period, we expect air passenger numbers to be about 90% down on last year's figures, and ferry passenger numbers to be about 60% down."
