“NPHET has kept Ireland locked up like North Korea.”
Ryanair has called for Ireland’s Green List to be updated “TODAY” on the back of the announcement of the government’s five-level response to repairing the damage Covid-19 has inflicted on society.
In a statement on Tuesday, the airline said that Irish tourism can’t wait another week for Micheál Martin to decide in what way the Green List will be updated, while also accusing NPHET of having “mismanaged” Ireland’s test and tracing system.
Ryanair said it wants Ireland’s Green List to include all EU countries with a lower Covid-19 case/per person rate than Ireland.
The statement said: “We need Ireland’s Green List updated TODAY and include all lower Covid case EU countries including Germany, Sweden and Poland.
“Irish aviation and jobs are being sacrificed to cover up NPHET’s failure to keep our Covid rate as low as Germany and Italy, both of whom have allowed intra EU air travel since 1 July while NPHET has kept Ireland locked up like North Korea.”
Micheál Martin said on Tuesday that Ireland’s Green List is expected to be updated in a week’s time, saying: “We do need to keep travel routes open… The government has decided to broadly support the European Commission proposals on travel as the best way of achieving this.
“So we will continue to engage with member states and the commission to finalise an approach which is consistent with public health requirements, while supporting our needs as an island.”
The EU proposals would see different countries designated by a traffic-light system (red, orange or green), depending on the incidence of Covid-19 in those countries.
The Ryanair statement comes just days after Ryanair called on the government to lift air travel restrictions, again comparing them to those in North Korea.
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