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The Government of Ireland made an update to their ‘Green List’ on September 17 that will see the approved countries cut from 10 down to 7, effective Monday September 21st, sparking outrage from Europe’s largest airline, RyanAir.
Ireland’s ‘Green List’ includes countries that do not have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival into the nation, which also includes Irish vacationers returning home.
When the list was originally published on July 21st it included 15 countries, but was whittled down to 10 countries in August, and now just 7 countries remain after the latest September update.
Ireland’s Green list, effective September 21st will only include the following 7 countries:
- Cyprus
- Finland
- Germany
- Iceland
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Poland
Major vacation hotspots like Italy and Greece have just been removed from the ‘Green List’, causing RyanAir to publish a press release calling the move “chaotic mismanagement” of travel during the pandemic and a “nonsensical decision”.
“Today’s announcement shows that the left hand of the Govt doesn’t know what its right hand is doing. There is no scientific basis behind the decision by Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney to remove Italy and Greece from the Green list only to add them back again in 3 weeks time.”
-said a spokesperson for RyanAir
We're calling on the Irish Government to put an end to their chaotic mismanagement of Travel during the Covid-19 crisis.
— Ryanair Press Office (@RyanairPress) September 17, 2020
Instead of adopting the EU traffic light system, below – that they promised to do only last Tuesday – they have today departed from that policy. pic.twitter.com/k8EYpRyWE8
RyanAir also directly calls out the government of Ireland for not adopting an EU traffic light system like many other European nations have done. RyanAir claims the government had promised to adopt a traffic light system just last week, but have now gone back on their word last minute.
That in conjunction with both Greece and Italy having much lower rates than Ireland has left RyanAir fuming at the recent changes.
“Instead of adopting the EU traffic light system they promised to do only last Tuesday, they have today departed from that policy by taking Italy and Greece from the green list when both countries have Covid rates 60%+ less than Ireland and are also classified under the new EU system as having no travel restrictions within the EU.”
– Says the press release today by RyanAir
After September 21st, anyone (including both tourists and Irish nationals) who enter from another country than the 7 ‘Green List’ countries or Northern Ireland, will have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. The department of foreign affairs says that arrivals should stay indoors in one place for the duration of the quarantine and avoid contact with other people as much as possible.
Ryan air concluded their statement today by saying:
“We call on the Government to immediately put in place the EU traffic light system that would see 21 EU countries including Italy and Greece, not requiring any restrictions”.
We call on the Irish Government to stop damaging air travel and immediately align Ireland’s green list with the EU Commission’s traffic light system🚦👇https://t.co/lDknFcYfAK
— Ryanair Press Office (@RyanairPress) September 17, 2020
Ireland’s ‘Green List’ originally included 15 nations; Malta, Finland, Norway, Italy, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Slovakia, Greece, Greenland, Monaco, San Marino, and Gibraltar.
Now only 7 countries remain, not giving Irish holiday makers many choices for quarantine-free travel.
Travel Off Path will regularly update Ireland’s ‘Green List’, plus all of Irelands entry requirements on our “Ireland Reopening For Tourism – Everything You Need To Know” page.
Read More: See all other European countries now reopen for tourism, plans that offer covid travel insurance and which countries can now travel to the UK
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Caroline
Monday 21st of September 2020
They should be grateful they have 7 countries they can fly to. We have none. The way to beat this is to stay home. It’s the reality we are doing dam well here in Australia with our population we have less cases and loss of life than Ireland. So I think it’s about time he started to get strict with the boarders
Glen Buterol
Monday 21st of September 2020
Good for you, whatever helps rationalize your government's draconian tyranny in your head. The rest of the developed, democratic world though, I can assure you, has no desire to emulate Australia's neo-prison colony mindset. Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back though if it makes you feel any better.
tomcat2012
Monday 21st of September 2020
Ryanair didn't care that much when they won't let people be refuned or reschedule their flights when they had flights booked in Ireland from months ago, there say no your flight is still functional so you just have to lose your money, How can that be fair. i can't travel to a country where its in complete quaratine on arrival. Its not fair at all.