Martin said Ireland is being “very cautious” on international travel generally.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said it’s too early for British tourists to be holidaying in Ireland without going into a two week quarantine on arrival.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning, Martin said that Ireland is being “very cautious” on international travel generally.
Martin said that in order be on the approved list of countries to travel to and from Ireland, the level of virus in the countries would have to be at a similar or lower level than Ireland.
“On the 20th of July, we will announce our measures in relation to international travel and essentially we have developed a methodology, somewhat similar to the European Union and its relationship with other countries, in relation to the level of the disease in particular countries, including the UK,” Martin said.
“In terms of the level, we will be looking at countries that are either on the level or below, that is the metric that I go with.
Martin said that while the quarantine when entering Ireland remains, it is under constant review.
When asked by Marr about what Britain needed to do to allow its citizens travel freely to Ireland, Martin said that suppression of the virus would be a key factor.
“We’ve watched reports where, in certain parts of the UK, there are still difficulties where certain areas have had to go into lockdown,” he said.
“We are still, as our travel advisory, saying to people not to travel for non-essential travel. That is our advice to our citizens.
“Our priority is to get our schools open towards the end of August and to also free up capacity in our hospitals to deal with non-Covid illnesses.”
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