The Health Minister has refused to say whether the list of countries people can travel to without quarantining will be published in the next two weeks.

The previous government had promised to publish the ‘green list’ before July 9th, when it would come into force.

The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said he is ‘beyond nervous’ about any increase in foreign travel and insisted that the advice to avoid all non-essential travel outside of Ireland remains in place.

Speaking to Shane Beatty on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly said he can’t guarantee the list will be in place by July 9th.

Minister Donnelly, who was appointed to the role yesterday evening, also warned that the list will be kept under constant review once it is in place.

“Two weeks ago, you might have looked at Portugal and said Portugal has a very low rate of COVID,” he said.

“It has been consistently low so that is an obvious country to put on a green list – but just in the last few days, Portugal has seen a big surge,” he said.

“There are countries like Sweden and the UK, or not so much the UK but the island of Britain, where the rates are significantly higher than ours so there is a lot of detail that would need to be worked through on this.

“You could have a situation where Country X was put on a list, people in good faith went to work or holiday in Country X and while they were there, we would have to say, ‘actually it is no longer on the list and people would have to come home and self-isolate.’”

The new Cabinet. Image: Merrion Street/Twitter

He said no decision has been made as to whether Britain will be included on the list.

“One of the measures that we use here in Ireland and that the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Control) uses is a 14-day measure of cumulative cases,” he said.

“At the moment, the island of Britain has a rate more than eight times higher than ours, so when you look at that, obviously it would take some very serious consideration right now based on those numbers.”

He noted that health officials believe there could be a “significant” second wave of the virus on the way – and said protecting nursing homes will be one of his priorities if one does arrive.

“From the testimony we have heard at the COVID committee over the last few weeks, certainly the PPE seems to be in place and we now have a much better and expanded testing and tracing situation,” he said.

“The priority has to be that they are protected.”

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin leaves the Convention Centre in Dublin after his election as Taoisaech, 27-06-2020. Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA Images

Minister Donnelly said the new Government remains “100% committed” to the Sláintecare plan for the health service.

“Universal healthcare means you can access to healthcare when you need it,” he said. “It is high quality care and it is affordable.

“There are large parts of our population for whom that simply does not apply. You have sick people waiting years, you have children waiting years just for diagnostics.

“We are fully committed to universal healthcare and we are fully committed to Sláintecare as the vehicle for that.”