There is currently a Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential international travel.

If you are travelling to Ireland you must:

• Complete a Covid-19 Passenger Locator Form
• Provide evidence that you have a negative or ‘not detected’ result from a COVID-19 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test carried out no more than 72 hours before arriving into Ireland, or have evidence that you are exempt from this legal requirement

A legal requirement to quarantine has been introduced for all arrivals from 4 February. Currently the 14-day quarantine period must be undertaken at the address specified on the Passenger Locator Form. This also applies to passengers travelling from another country to Ireland, who arrive via Northern Ireland.

Persons who started their journey in High risk Category 2 Countries must complete the full 14 days of quarantine, regardless of whether a negative test result has been received.

Effective from 12th February the list of Category 2 Countries are:-

Angola, Austria, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Eswatini, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

There are very limited exemptions to mandatory quarantine.

• You must complete the full 14 days of quarantine – regardless of whether or not you have a negative test result
• If you do not fulfil the legal requirement for mandatory quarantine you are committing an offence, and can be fined up to €2,500 or receive a prison sentence of up to 6 months, or both.
• You may only leave your place of residence during the quarantine period for unavoidable reasons of an emergency nature to protect a person’s health or welfare, to leave the State, or to avail of a test when requested to do so in writing by the HSE.

Legislation in relation to mandatory quarantine is set to be finalised in the next two to three weeks. When and if this legislation is passed it may mean that anyone who arrives from one of the 20 countries on the high risk category 2 list will be required to quarantine at their own expense in a state nominated hotel, which will be policed by private security. The Government will be able to add countries to the quarantine listed as required.

However we recommend that anyone considering travel to Ireland should consult the following Government website beforehand