A LEADING public health doctor has warned that abandoning quarantine for overseas passengers flying into Ireland could result in the island being "re-seeded" with coronavirus - at a time when cases are at their lowest.
Professor Gabriel Scally said he "absolutely disagreed" with a loosening of restrictions for those travelling from 'hotspot' countries such as the United States, after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it would not be "practical" to enforce compulsory self-isolation on people arriving from overseas.
Texas, Florida and Arizona are among the US states experiencing record high numbers of Covid-19 cases but flights are continuing to arrive into Dublin from America at a time when Irish citizens are being encouraged to avoid non-essential travel abroad.
Professor Scally, who is President of the Epidemiology and Public Health section of the Royal Society of Medicine, has made repeated calls throughout the pandemic for an all-island approach to testing and travel restrictions at airport and ferry ports.
He questioned the "hold" of the airline industry on government decision making.
"Perhaps people have forgotten about how the virus came to Ireland in the first place, which was international tourism. It was someone travelling back to Ireland from Italy via Dublin airport and then onto the north," he said.
"They must have short memories on the origins of this pandemic because it was airlines that brought the virus to Ireland. And just as we get it under control and head towards elimination it may well be airlines that re-seed the virus across the country again."
Four flights arrived in Dublin Airport from the US last week - from New York, Chicago, Newark and Dallas.
Such is the level of concern about overseas transmission of the virus that a restaurant in Tralee, Co Kerry turned away two groups of American tourists after they admitted they had not quarantined.
Customers at a Croí restaurant in Tralee are temperature checked and asked if they've been abroad.
Despite public fears, Mr Varadkar yesterday ruled out mandatory quarantine for people arriving into the country, saying it "turned out to be a bit of a disaster" in Australia.
However, Professor Scally said that it was important to keep the Australian figures "in perspective" and noted there were just over 100 deaths and 10,000 cases in the country.
Problems emerged in Victoria - the virus was dramatically slowed or eradicated in almost every other Australian state - after security guards overseeing hotel quarantines of new arrivals didn't do their jobs properly and became 'over-friendly' with quarantined travelleers, resulting in a cluster.
Meanwhile, the Republic's acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn also said yesterday from a public health perspective, mandatory quarantine would be a "desirable measure" but it was up to the government to decide given the wider implications.
Mr Varadkar added that Ireland needs to consider, as other countries have done, testing of people who are not on the 'green list'.
He said the plan is to produce a 'green list' of countries that people can travel to without restrictions, "because you are no more likely to get the virus there than here".
However, he said, for countries not on the 'green list' or 'A list', the government is "examining the possibility of bringing in random testing or testing in some cases as other countries have done because we know that mandatory quarantine is not possible in Ireland".
It is expected that a 'green list' of countries where Irish people can travel to without restrictions will be published next week.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told RTÉ that she believes mandatory quarantine for those returning home or arriving in Ireland from aboard is a necessary precaution to protect the island.
"We simply can't leave our island exposed to the extent that people can land, people can be asked or requested to quarantine for 14 days and that we just take it on a wing and a prayer that that's happening," she said.
"That's clearly not an acceptable situation."
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