The figure represents a substantial increase in passenger traffic since the Republic entered Phase Three of its reopening at the end of June, seeing hairdressers reopen and travel restrictions within the country lift.
The Government has now further lifted restrictions with the release of a “green list” of countries which people may travel to and from without having to complete a two-week quarantine upon arrival in the Republic.
Italy, Greece and Malta are among 15 countries on the list, while many common destinations for Irish holidaymakers such as Spain and Portugal are not included.
Eoghan Corry, Editor of Air and Travel Magazine, says the list is not reflective of the current activity at the country's airports:
The list is so irrelevant to what the real world is. Less than nine per cent of our air connectivity is to these 15 countries. We have 120 flights arriving to the island today – only nine of those are from green list countries.
Exclusions from the list will continue to affect incoming tourists to the country. Though visitors from Britain, the United States, Germany and France represented 70 per cent of all overseas tourists to the island in 2018, according to Tourism Ireland, none of these countries feature on the green list and visitors from them remain subject to the 14-day quarantine.
Unique approach
The Republic’s unique approach to Covid-19 travel policy within the EU means that while tourists from the Republic visiting France, Spain and the UK will not have to self-isolate on arrival, any visitors from these countries, along with anyone returning to Ireland from them, will have to self-isolate for 14 days upon setting foot in the Republic.
Some countries on the green list, such as Greenland and Gibraltar, would currently require travellers to pass through non-green list countries while taking connecting flights.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney says a green list of countries for travel has been published to reflect the real world and to treat people like adults:
We are trying to provide as much accurate advice as we can to the travelling public, and I think we have an obligation to do that, because we know that about 50,000 people are leaving Ireland every week.
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However, he warned the message remains to avoid all non-essential travel:“If the risk status for the country changes while you’re away, that’s a risk you’re taking when you travel, which is one of the reasons why the overarching view of government is that the safest thing to do is stay at home.”
In May, just over 46,000 passengers travelled through Dublin Airport, a 98 per cent drop when compared to the same month in 2019. This increased to 94,000 passengers in June, though numbers remained down 97 per cent on the previous year.
In June, 47,000 passengers travelled to and from European destinations. 31,500 travelled to and from Britain, and 11,000 on transatlantic routes to North America.
