Ryanair has condemned the latest travel measures approved by Government in response to the latest Covid-19 situation.
From Friday, people arriving in Ireland from overseas who have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 will be required also to have a certified negative test.
Those travelling with an antigen test result will need to have obtained it within 48 hours of departure, and it will have to be professionally administered. No self-administered tests will be accepted, under rules agreed by Cabinet on Tuesday morning.
Furthermore, air and sea carriers will be required to carry out pre-boarding checks for compliance at all ports and airports.
These new measures have been approved for a minimum of two weeks and will be reviewed and removed as soon as possible.
Confusion
Speaking about the latest measures, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary hit out at what he described as the latest “Nphet/Government gobbledygook”.
“We note that neither the CMO nor the Government have defined what a 'professionally done' antigen test means or looks like,” Mr O'Leary said.
“How are airline or border control staff supposed to understand what a professionally done antigen test is, or looks like, when neither the CMO nor the Government have even defined it?
“There is no medical or health benefit to be gained by requiring vaccinated EU citizens to provide negative antigen or PCR tests prior to their arrival in Ireland, he added.
One of the major issues Ryanair has with the latest advice is that travel within the EU has taken place since the 1st of July using EU Digital Covid Cert (DCC) with all passengers providing either proof of vaccination (the DCC) or a negative PCR test.
“Ryanair calls on the Government to abandon this latest Nphet gobbledygook and return to a simple, and readily understood system, followed by most of the rest of the EU, which protects free movement of EU citizens, subject only to production of an EU DCC or a negative PCR test,” Mr O'Leary concluded.
