The airline also asked for the hotel quarantine system to be scrapped, calling it both “useless” and “defective”.
Ryanair has called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to deliver a roadmap for the re-opening of air travel to EU countries by the end of May.
In a statement on Friday, the airline also asked for Ireland’s hotel quarantine system to be scrapped.
A Ryanair spokesperson said that the airline believes the measure is “absurd”, due to Ireland’s shared open land border with the United Kingdom.
“Travellers coming into Ireland can easily avoid designated hotel facility by flying through Belfast or via the many EU countries that are not on Ireland’s hotel quarantine list, making Ireland’s hotel quarantine completely pointless,” the statement read.
In the statement, Ryanair asked the Irish government to “apply common sense” and offer a roadmap for reopening the sector when it meets to discuss easing restrictions next week.
“We can’t continue being the failed outliers of Europe. Our Government must act now and apply common sense before it is too late to save connectivity to and from the island of Ireland,” a Ryanair spokesperson said.
“We call on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to scrap this defective, useless hotel quarantine which only applies to certain EU countries, and ensure vaccinated people can move freely to and from the EU, and set out a clear plan to re-open the nation for air travel to and from Ireland from the end of May onwards.
“It must end our defective hotel quarantine when people travelling from the EU can easily avoid it by travelling through Northern Ireland or by flying from neighbouring EU countries.”
Currently, you must quarantine in a hotel for 14 days if you arrive in Ireland from a country on a list of designated locations, or if you do not have a negative or not-detected PCR test taken within 72 hours before your flight.
You also have to quarantine in a hotel if you transited through a designated country in the 14 days before your arrival. This period can be extended if you test positive and are still symptomatic at the end of the 14-day period.
If you come to Ireland without a negative or not-detected PCR test, you must complete mandatory quarantine in a hotel until a not detected result from a Covid-19 PCR test is returned.
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