Unvaccinated people will be able to travel abroad this summer with Covid cert, says Leo Varadkar

"The law we are putting into place is actually different to the CMO’s advice."

Unvaccinated people will be able to travel abroad this summer if they have a Digital Covid Certificate and get a PCR test before returning, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has confirmed.

Varadkar told RTÉ’s The Week in Politics on Sunday that the advice from the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan is “very clear” that people who aren’t fully vaccinated should not travel internationally as of yet.

However, he added that the Government will be putting in place different guidelines surrounding travel due to "wider considerations".

“I totally understand why he is putting forward that advice… But because we are the Government we have to take wider considerations into account and that is why the Government advice. The law we are putting into place is actually different to the CMO’s advice,” he said.

He said that Dr Holohan’s advice is “totally right” both medically and scientifically, however, he added that due to unfairness to those who have yet to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, the Government has decided to diverge from it.

On Thursday, the Chief Medical Officer said that people should not travel abroad unless they had already received a Covid-19 vaccine.

“We would like to see travel resuming because we are getting enough people vaccinated. We really focus the travel on people who are vaccinated. Do not travel unless you are vaccinated, I think will continue to be our message,” he said at a press conference.

Government advice is currently for everyone to avoid non-essential travel, however, from 19 July Ireland will introduce the EU Digital Covid Certificate which will allow for more freedom in terms of international travel. However, like all Government restrictions, it will depend on the public health situation and case numbers at the time.