Ireland opens up to tourism from 19 July

Unvaccinated visitors from Great Britain will face tests before departure and on arrival, as well as quarantine

The Irish government has announced plans to open up to international tourism from 19 July.

Travellers from the European Union will be able to use the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate, which contains evidence of vaccination, or recovery from Covid infection, or a recent negative coronavirus test.

But visitors from Great Britain – and the US – will be subject to more onerous procedures.

The official announcement says of non-EU visitors: “If passenger has valid proof of vaccination, no travel-related testing or quarantine will be necessary.

“If passenger does not have valid proof of vaccination, they will need to present evidence of a negative PCR test result within 72 hours prior to arrival into the country; self-quarantine; undergo post-arrival testing.”

People from Northern Ireland will face no restrictions.

The taoiseach Micheál Martin, said: “International connectively is critical to our success and many lives depend on it. I understand the desire for some to welcome friends or family from abroad. But we need to get this right in a safe and sustainable way.”

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Today’s announcement is an extremely welcome and important step on the road to recovery for our industry.

“This will help protect thousands of jobs and livelihoods across the tourism industry. For the first time in many months, we can look to the future with optimism.

“We know from our research that there is significant pent-up demand among travellers in Great Britain to return to the island of Ireland as soon as possible.”

Earlier, the deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, told RTE: “We all want a return to international travel. We want to see our friends and family abroad. We want to welcome tourists back to Ireland. We want to give people who work in aviation hope for the future.


“But the real thing we want to avoid is a repeat of what happened in December – which was increased socialisation combined with a new, more infectious variant that came in as a result of international travel causing a new wave of infection.”

The date in the second half of July is later than most EU nations.

Mr Varadkar said: “We’re not going to be the first country in the European Union to open up international travel, because every extra week is 300,000 more people protected. And that’s why it makes sense to wait a little bit longer before we give the green light to international travel.”

Infection and hospitalisation figures in Ireland have fallen sharply in recent days. The reopening is contingent upon the “Indian” not leading to a prolonged increase in cases.

The move followed an announcement in Belfast that holidaymakers from Great Britain are now able to visit Northern Ireland without restrictions.