Passengers from high risk countries to Ireland are temporarily unable to make bookings for the mandatory hotel quarantine because the hotels have reached their capacity.
The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that it and the Tifco Hotel Group, which supplies the hotels for the program, have agreed to “temporarily stop” the MHQ booking portal.
The move is described as a “precautionary measure to further assess capacity within the mandatory hotel quarantine system for the coming days”.
Those who have already booked will not be affected by the interruption of the program. Bookings will continue from April 19th. Those arriving in Ireland on these dates should still book their hotel.
A health ministry spokesman added, “The temporary break will be reviewed continuously if additional capacity becomes available.”
They reminded the public that the official advice remains “strong against all non-essential international travel”.
A member of the military gets on the bus after escorting passengers to the Crowne Plaza Hotel to begin quarantine in Dublin on March 29, 2021 (Photo by Donall Farmer / Getty Images).
Health Secretary Stephen Donnelly appeared on RTÉ yesterday Six One News There he said that bookings had been interrupted due to the high number of walk-ins to the mandatory quarantine hotels and that some passengers had not pre-booked their stay before arriving in Ireland.
Some airlines allowed people to board from restricted countries without ensuring that they had pre-booked a stay at a quarantine hotel.
There are currently 650 rooms available as part of the mandatory hotel quarantine. That number will increase to 960 next week and over 1,300 the following week.
Transport Secretary Eamon Ryan is working with air carriers to discuss the situation of people from restricted countries who are still allowed to fly to Ireland without booking hotel quarantine, which is a mandatory requirement.
For more information on the countries, see the list of mandatory hotel quarantine in Ireland Here.
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