Travelling to Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic
From Department of the Taoiseach
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Taoiseach
Published on
Last updated on
The government advises against all non-essential international travel.
All passengers arriving in Ireland must:
If you are travelling from or via a designated state then you must also pre-book and pre-pay for a place in a designated facility for mandatory hotel quarantine.
If you are coming to Ireland from overseas, including if you are travelling onwards to Northern Ireland, you must complete COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form.
Failure to complete this form is an offence.
If you arrive via Northern Ireland and have been overseas in the 14 days prior to your arrival in Ireland, then you must complete an electronic COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form online.
The e-receipt must be saved for 14 days after arrival and produced upon request to a Member of An Garda Síochána.
An exemption from completing the form is in place for providers of essential supply chain services (such as hauliers, pilots and maritime staff) and diplomats.
Once you have arrived in Ireland you must comply with the health restrictions in place in Ireland.
Passengers travelling to Northern Ireland must ensure that they are familiar with the guidance and regulations in place, including the completion of a UK Passenger Locator form.
If you are arriving into Ireland from overseas or are transiting through an Irish port or airport you must have a negative/‘not detected’ result from a pre-departure COVID-19 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test carried out no more than 72 hours prior to your arrival in Ireland. Antigen or other test types do not meet the requirements.
You will be asked to show evidence of this negative or 'not detected' result before boarding the airplane or ferry from the country you are travelling from and will be denied boarding if you cannot produce such evidence. Once you arrive in Ireland - you have to provide this evidence to Irish immigration officers.
You should retain the written confirmation of your test result for at least 14 days.
If you arrive without evidence of a negative or 'not detected' RT-PCR test or a valid exemption:
If you arrive into Ireland from overseas and enter via Northern Ireland, then you must have a negative or 'not detected' RT-PCR test result taken within 72 hours of arrival at the point of entry and retain this test result for 14 days after arrival. It must be shown upon request to a member of An Garda Síochána (the Irish police force).
Mandatory quarantine requirements apply to all persons who have been overseas in the 14-days prior to entering Ireland. Arrivals from designated states are subject to mandatory hotel quarantine.
For all others arriving in Ireland from non-designated states:
If you do not fulfil the legal requirement for mandatory quarantine you are committing an offence.
There some limited exemptions from the requirement to complete mandatory quarantine:
The following may temporarily leave their place of quarantine when necessary to perform their essential function – and only for as long as strictly required:
Travel to Ireland from specific designated states is now subject to mandatory hotel quarantine. This must be pre-booked in advance of travel.
These arrangements apply to any passenger who has been in any of these countries in the previous 14 days, even if only transiting through one of these countries and even if remaining airside.
These arrangements also apply to any passenger who is travelling on to Northern Ireland.
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.
The Minister for Health has designated the following countries as designated states for the purposes of mandatory hotel quarantine:
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