London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

COVID-19: Britons must take coronavirus test before travelling to Ireland

COVID-19: Britons must take coronavirus test before travelling to Ireland

Failure to produce a negative test result could mean a fine of up to €2,500 (£2,261) and/or imprisonment for up to six months.

Visitors to Ireland will have to produce a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours, as the country's government brings in a raft of tough new restrictions.

The requirement for a PCR test will initially apply to travellers from Great Britain and South Africa - who until Friday night are banned from entering Ireland.

The new arrangements will begin on Saturday before being extended to all countries.

However, even with a negative test result, visitors must still self-isolate for 14 days. Failure to produce the negative test result could mean a fine of up to €2,500 (£2,261) and/or imprisonment for up to six months.


Ireland has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases due to a loosening of restrictions in the run-up to Christmas and the arrival of the more contagious variant of the virus, which was first detected in the UK.

Of the positive cases that had arrived from Britain in December, 41.3% had been the new variant, said Prime Minister Micheal Martin.

The country is already in its top tier (Level 5) lockdown, but continuing record daily case numbers meant new restrictions had become an inevitability.

Besides the new travel requirements, the country's schools will now remain shut for the remainder of January (except for final-year students), and non-essential construction projects, previously permitted, will have to shut.

Non-essential retailers will no longer be allowed provide a "click-and-collect" service, and will be restricted to delivery only.

Mr Martin said "we simply have to suppress this surge, and flatten the curve once again", and warned of the "tremendous harm that can be done if we let our guard down in any way".

Today's new measures will remain in place until at least 31 January.


A woman walks past a closed bar in Dublin. File photo


Meanwhile, there are suggestions bars and restaurants in Ireland are likely to remain shut until the end of March due to coronavirus restrictions.

When asked about those establishments, Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar: "If I was running a business now, I would be thinking that it's a probability that I'll be closed until the end of March."

Current public health measures are due to be reviewed at the end of January, but Mr Varadkar said the country was not going to be "out of the woods" by then.

Analysis: The difficulty with this kind of arrangement remains Northern Ireland


Critics call it a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted, but finally visitors to Ireland will have to show they've been tested for COVID.

There had been calls for this measure as far back as the first wave, and opposition politicians have said it's too little, too late.

From Saturday, visitors from Britain will have to provide a negative PCR test result, taken within the previous 72 hours.

Even then, a two-week isolation period beckons. But as always, the difficulty with this kind of arrangement remains Northern Ireland.

There is no requirement for a test to enter Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

As seen during the Brexit negotiations, the open border between North and South is sacred to the Dublin government, and it will not contemplate any form of checks there.

Theoretically, there is nothing to stop someone circumventing Ireland's new rules by flying into Belfast and driving south.

When I asked Ireland's prime minister about this challenge, he admitted "it is a problem".

He spoke of continuing engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive, but as his transport minister Eamon Ryan added: "Stormont will have to make their own call."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×