By failing to implement mandatory quarantine, our government has put airline profits before the protection of its people

My article in today's Indo👇

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/cabinets-contradictory-quarantine-briefs-are-taking-their-toll-and-prolonging-purgatory-40054292.html

Main points:

..."On Wednesday, Micheál Martin invoked three reasons for not implementing mandatory hotel quarantine, none of which made any sense. Firstly, airline litigation. Ryanair did challenge the government’s advice for people returning from countries not on the designated green list to self-isolate for 14 days and objected to advice against non-essential travel. Ryanair lost the case but was gifted the concession anyway. In September, Leo Varadkar removed the deterrent of “non-essential” travel relating to the risible “green list” and self-isolation remains unenforced. Why did Martin cite defeated litigation as an impediment to quarantine?

 Secondly, the Taoiseach claimed “compelling legal reasons” against hotel quarantine which directly contradicts Stephen Donnelly’s announcement in July that the Attorney General deemed it wasn’t illegal. Yet Donnelly still resisted, claiming the WHO gave him permission not to implement quarantine, which was surprising because that contradicted the WHO’s official advice which states: "Quarantine is included within the legal framework of the international health regulations (2005)." Further: "Member states have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to legislate and to implement legislation in pursuit of their health policies, even if this involves the restriction of movement of individuals".

 "Thirdly, Micheál Martin cited the curtailment of personal liberties. The European Convention on Human Rights provides lawful exception to this right (Article 5) to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Equally, under Article 2 (the right to life), the government has a duty to implement measures to safeguard lives. Where there is a known risk to life, the state must take protective steps to preserve life. Allowing the few to undertake non-essential travel without mandatory quarantine, I would argue, poses a disproportionate risk, endangering the lives of the whole population.

Whether Martin’s contradictory quarantine messaging is down to deliberate ambiguity or incompetence, it’s costing lives".

"Stephen Donnelly’s current proposal to allow returning passengers to isolate in households with non-travellers, thus defeating the point of quarantine falls miserably short of the mark. By the way, as minister for Transport, why isn’t Eamon Ryan dealing with quarantine?

It’ll be weeks before the woefully inadequate quarantine legislation is passed, exposing us to the importation of mutating variants which risk compromising the efficacy of some vaccines.

Nick Cammack, who leads the Covid-19 therapeutics accelerator at Wellcome warned that with the coronavirus mutating rapidly, he doesn’t expect any of the current drugs to be effective for long. “I think it’s pretty clear, we’ve seen South Africa, UK and Brazil variants, there will be others.

 Nicola Sturgeon recognises the danger posed by new variants and indicated her intention to  deviate from UK policy and introduce 'managed quarantine' for all arrivals to safeguard her citizens. Germany has banned travel from 5 “high risk” countries, including Ireland in order to “protect the German population.”

With vaccination rollout already stymied by Stephen Donnelly’s ineptitude, whether Michael O’Leary likes it or not, we’ll be staycationing again this summer. If we close our borders to all but essential travel now and aim for zero-covid, we can open everything else up and party like it’s 2019. Polls consistently show that 90% of people want mandatory hotel quarantine so it’s time our government put the protection of its people before the airline industry’s profits.

The woman on the beach didn’t mind holidaying in Ireland. She just needed to feel safe, we all do. It’s time to put an end to this purgatory".