The Government has added 26 countries and states to its mandatory hotel quarantine list.
One country, Mauritius, has been removed.
All passengers arriving in Ireland must complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form, and provide evidence that they have a negative or 'not detected' result from a COVID-19 PCR test carried out no more than 72 hours before arrival.
While people who are travelling from or through any of the higher-risk states must also pre-book and pre-pay for a place in a designated facility for mandatory hotel quarantine.
All other travellers are required to quarantine at home for 14 days - however, if they take a further PCR test on day five and if this is reported as 'not detected' they can end their quarantine.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said he has added these new states following consultation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney.
Travellers from these states will have to book accommodation for mandatory hotel quarantine if they intend to arrive in Ireland after 4.00am on Tuesday, April 6th.
The states to be added are:
- the Republic of Albania
- the Principality of Andorra
- Aruba
- the Kingdom of Bahrain
- Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
- the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
- the State of Israel
- the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
- the Republic of Kosovo
- the State of Kuwait
- the Republic of Lebanon
- the Republic of San Marino
- the Republic of Moldova
- the Principality of Monaco
- Montenegro
- the Federal Republic of Nigeria
- the Republic of North Macedonia
- the Sultanate of Oman
- the State of Palestine
- the Republic of the Philippines
- the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
- the State of Qatar
- Saint Lucia
- the Republic of Serbia
- the Federal Republic of Somalia
- the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands
'Questions to be asked'
It comes as plans to increase the number of countries on the quarantine list could face legal difficulties following a warning from the Attorney-General.
Former President of the Law Society of Ireland, Stuart Gilhooly, earlier told Newstalk Breakfast it may be illegal to pay for mandatory quarantine.
"It seems to particularly relate to issues around the freedom of movement of workers which is something that arises from Article 45 of the EU Treaty," he said.
"The concern is that if you are saying to workers coming from a different country or indeed Irish citizens coming here that you can’t move freely to a job from a different country that could create a problem within EU law."
He said another concern is that while the Government is entitled to restrict human and Constitutional rights for public health reasons – this must be done on a ‘proportional’ basis.
"There is a worry that if there are certain countries that are not that dissimilar to Ireland in terms of COVID numbers, by saying to people that they can’t leave the hotel for 12 days that is not a proportional restriction on their rights," he said.
While Higher Education Minister Simon Harris has said questions around the system need to be asked before it is expanded.
He told The Hard Shoulder: "You could have a number of Irish people abroad, they could have been vaccinated already, do they need to mandatory hotel quarantine?
"You could have a student who's on Erasmus in France who's had a negative test before they've left France, and has a spare room in the family home to isolate in for the two weeks.
"I suppose some of the questions that I think we do just have to ask is what about vaccinated people, and also what about our own citizens returning?"
He added: "I really do believe in the concept of mandatory hotel quarantine but... the environment in which we introduced it now is changing and changing fast.
"Are we genuinely saying that if an Irish person, a citizen in our own country, is returning and is fully vaccinated from COVID, do they have to actually quarantine?"
