Any person, other than an exempted traveller, who has been in a designated State within 14 days of arriving in Ireland must pre-book accommodation in a designated quarantine facility and present for quarantine on arrival.
Pre-payment is required, although a deferral of charges can be provided by Irish Embassies and Consulates and an exemption from charges may subsequently be sought from the Minister for Health on financial grounds.
It is important to note that the list of designated States will be subject to change at short notice and passengers are required to check the list before travelling to Ireland, to be sure of their obligations.
| Where you are coming from | Measures in place |
| If you come into Ireland having been in a designated State | Unless you are exempt, you must complete a period of 14 days mandatory quarantine in a hotel. However, if you receive a negative (‘not detected’) result from an RT-PCR test taken on day 10, your quarantine will come to an end on receipt of those results. Quarantine will be extended if you test positive for COVID-19 |
| If you come to Ireland without a negative ('not detected') pre-travel RT-PCR test | You must enter mandatory quarantine in a hotel if you have not been in a designated State, but you do not have a negative (‘not detected’) result from a RT-PCR test conducted within the 72 hours prior to your arrival in Ireland. You may exit hotel quarantine on receipt of a negative (‘not detected’) result from an RT-PCR test. In that case, you must complete self-quarantine at home, as per the pathway for those travel from any country not deemed a designated State |
| If you come to Ireland from any non-designated State, with a negative (‘not detected’) pre-travel RT-PCR test | You do not need to enter hotel quarantine. You must quarantine at home. You may exit home quarantine with a negative ('not detected') RT-PCR test taken at earliest 5 days following your arrival |
You must complete mandatory hotel quarantine if you:
- are not an exempt traveller; and
- have been in a designated State within 14 days of arriving in Ireland. This includes transit through a designated State, even if you did not leave the port or airport during that transit, or
- you have not been in a designated State within 14 days of arriving in Ireland, but you do not have a negative (‘not detected’) result following an RT-PCR test conducted in the 72 hours prior to your arrival in Ireland
Anyone arriving overland into Ireland from Northern Ireland who has been in a designated State in the previous 14 days is required to pre-book their quarantine and is responsible for making their own way to their pre-booked designated quarantine hotel within 4 hours of arriving in the State. This is the case in addition to any hotel quarantine requirements which a person may have been required to fulfil in Great Britain, before arriving into Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Anyone arriving into Ireland who has been in or through a designated State in the previous 14 days is obliged to enter mandatory quarantine in a designated facility and to pre-book it in advance. There is no exemption for people travelling onward overland to Northern Ireland.
Mandatory quarantine is a key safeguard for public health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to protect public health and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and new variants of concern in Ireland.
There are a limited number of exemptions from mandatory quarantine, including a person who is fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine and has documents to prove their status.
If you fall into the category of traveller required to quarantine on arrival, it is an offence if you travel to Ireland without making the booking in advance, without reasonable excuse.
Every person in quarantine has the right to seek a review of their quarantine and to seek an early release. See information on the grounds on which requests for review may be made.
You should be aware that requests for review can be based only on a limited number of grounds and public health remains a paramount consideration.
Department of Health Mandatory Hotel Quarantine Handbook
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