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28th Apr 2021

Inter-country travel and reopening of hospitality on course for June, says Eamon Ryan

Clara Kelly

covid check

Some good news.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has suggested that inter-country travel will open up alongside the hospitality sector in June of this year.

The Minister said that the reopening of hotels, B&Bs, and guesthouses and the lifting of inter-county travel restrictions will “go together”.

“The opening up of the hospitality is inter-county travel, the two go together so hopefully June we will see the summer start really in earnest,” he told the Irish Mirror.

Ryan also said that while he doesn’t want to give “false promises”, the ability to reopen the aviation and travel sector could be on the horizon within the next number of months due to the ramping up of Ireland’s vaccination programme.

The Minister said that international travel “won’t be weeks away” but thanks to vaccinations, he is hopeful it is “not more than a few months away”.

It comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the Government will provide “full clarity” about Ireland’s reopening over the coming months via a detailed statement on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Martin added that he believes the “real prize” for the hospitality sector and other areas of the Irish economy will be a “long-haul” reopening of businesses.

“We will make a comprehensive statement on Thursday, very comprehensive, and bring full clarity,” he said.

“We have given a broad outline to the sectors we are going to examine before the end of this month. That worked last month, we gave dates and timelines for the month of April, we have honoured those, so far so good.

“We’ve taken the pressure off the health service, significantly, the Irish people have responded magnificently to the guidelines.”

The cabinet committee will meet today to decide on further measures for June and July including the re-opening of the hospitality sector.

The Taoiseach will give the full details in an address to the nation on Thursday evening.

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