DETAILS of passengers travelling on to Northern Ireland who should be quarantining after flying into Dublin from Covid-19 hotspots are not being shared by the Irish government.
The Irish News has learned that while a 'memorandum of understanding' was agreed five months ago to facilitate cross-border co-operation, key details which could help track and trace new cases being brought in from abroad have not been passed on.
Last week the Irish News revealed that Northern Ireland health authorities do not hold details of the numbers of passengers who should be self-isolating following their return from countries not on the 'green list' of exempt low to medium-risk countries.
Passenger locator form data, handed in on arrival in the north, is instead held by the Home Office Border Force which shares details of those required to self-isolate with Public Health England.
The south's legislation exempts passengers 'transiting via Ireland to another jurisdiction including Northern Ireland', meaning people returning via the Republic's airports or ports from highly-infected countries are not bound by its quarantine rules.
However, the Department of Health has admitted it is not passing on any information it gathers from them on its new electronic passenger locator form.
"Ministers, public health experts and officials north and south are in close ongoing contact on a broad range of Covid-related issues," a spokeswoman said.
"Cooperation between the two jurisdictions on Covid-19 is underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed by the respective chief medical officers in April.
"The Irish government recently introduced an electronic passenger locator form. The form is intended to facilitate better contact tracing and to support the targeting of key public health messages to arriving passengers via text and email.
"Passenger data from locator forms are not shared between jurisdictions. Consideration is being given to how to further enhance cooperation north-south with regards to overseas travel."
The Irish government has come under fire for perceived failures in its coronavirus response over effective testing and tracing and proper controls at airports and ports.
Transport minister Eamon Ryan told the Dáil last week that managing airports throughout the pandemic is a "balancing act between protecting lives and protecting livelihoods" and that "having aviation travel is part of protecting livelihoods in this country".
The government's new medium-term Covid plan will be published on September 14 and is expected to include testing arrangements at airports to allow some passengers to waive the requirement for 14-day restriction.
Plans are already underway for a Northern Ireland pilot scheme to test air travellers returning from Covid-19 hot spots.
Two people have received £1,000 fines in the past week from the PSNI for breaches of international travel restrictions.
