People Before Profit have, in reaction to the government announcement of new travel restrictions, described them as “ad hoc, half-baked and piece-meal”, which unless linked to a “decisive Zero-Covid strategy,” would prove “inadequate and futile.”
They said that the government’s new travel measures around PCR testing and quarantine limited to selected countries were “window-dressing” and that the government should ban all non-essential travel and impose a 14-day quarantine for all entering the country for essential reasons.
However, People Before Profit said travel restrictions alone would be inadequate unless they were linked to the other measures needed for a comprehensive Zero-Covid plan to eliminate community transmission.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said: “Any measures that the government bring in, especially one off, ad hoc measures are pointless unless the end goal is the elimination of community transmission. We have to stop the importation of this virus so that we can continue to bring infection numbers down. That is why we are calling for a ban to all non-essential travel. But also, when we succeed in bringing numbers down, we have to keep them down or we will be back where are now in two- or three-months’ time. That means perusing a Zero-Covid strategy.
