Call for ‘aligned’ north-south Covid rules at Christmas
North #North
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]]> Leo Varadkar has said the Irish government is not planning to ban cross-border travel despite the fact that infection rates are higher in NI.
It had been reported he had advised against travel from the Republic of Ireland to NI over Christmas.
However he told the Dáil (Irish parliament) there was “no question of there being an outright travel ban between north and south”.
“It’s not under consideration, not being discussed period,” he added.
“We don’t have a travel ban with Poland we’re certainly not going to have one with Northern Ireland,” the tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) told the Dáil on Thursday.
He added that the government will continue to ask people not to move between counties.
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]]> ‘Inter-county travel including cross-border travel’
Mr Varadkar further clarified that as the Republic of Ireland moves from level five to level three restrictions next week “inter-county travel will still be restricted and will only be allowed for work, school or essential purposes like caring for an elderly relative”.
“So that means that inter-county travel including cross-border travel for shopping or visiting friends and relatives will not be allowed,” he said.
He added that they hoped to be in a position to advise people that they can travel between counties including NI in order to visit friends and relatives closer to Christmas but that will depend on the epidemiological data at that point.
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image copyrightEPA ]]> image captionMr Varadkar spoke about cross-border travel in the Daíl earlier in November
When asked about previous comments about cross-border travel a spokesman for Mr Varadkar said the Fine Gael meeting where he was reported to have raised the issue was “private”.
However, he referred to remarks Mr Varadkar made in the Dáil on Tuesday about the “real risk” of north-south travel within Ireland.
‘Not surprised’
Before Mr Varadkar clarified his stance on cross-border travel, a Sinn Féin spokesperson said closing the borders would show “no awareness of the realities of the life along border communities, where family members live on both sides of the border and where tens of thousands cross the border daily to work, to go to school, or to access health and other services.”
DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told RTÉ there needed to be “better communication” between the Irish government and the Northern Ireland Executive about coronavirus, and the executive often first heard of decisions taken in Dublin “in the media”.
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SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Dublin and Stormont should “align our restrictions as far as possible north and south” over Christmas.
The Republic of Ireland is five weeks into a six-week lockdown, during which people are living under the government’s highest level of public health restrictions.
Northern Ireland’s Covid regulations are less strict, but Stormont has imposed a two-week “circuit breaker” from Friday which, along with other measures, will see all non-essential retail close for the first time since the summer.
The circuit breaker was announced prior to a UK-wide agreement which will see rules relaxed across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for a five-day period of Christmas.
Up to three families will be allowed to form exclusive social bubbles in the UK between 23 and 27 December.
When the agreement was announced on Sunday, UK ministers said they “also recognised that people will want to see family and friends across the island of Ireland, and this is the subject of discussions with the Irish government”.
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