News

Government to decide if it needs to change rules about international travel into Ireland

Government to decide  if it needs to change rules about international travel into Ireland

The government is set to decide if it needs to change the rules about international travel into Ireland at a cabinet meeting later today.

It is after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was uncomfortable about horticulture workers being flown in to harvest fruit and ordered a review over the weekend.

189 fruit pickers hired by an agency in Bulgaria for the spring strawberry harvest in north County Dublin remain in isolation today.

Fruit company Keelings says they will not start work until two weeks from the date of their arrival.

Advertisement

It hires up nine hundred seasonal workers every year, and usually recruits in Eastern Europe - having received just a few dozen applications from people already living in Ireland.

On Friday, the Taoiseach said he was uncomfortable about the number of agency workers coming in, saying travel needs to be kept to a minimum.

He ordered an urgent review of the situation, with officials due to report back to the cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 today.

Mr Varadkar has already indicated that all passengers coming into Ireland need to be interviewed and says the government may yet change the rules on travel.

Advertisement