The Green Party leader says he believes new laws needed to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine for some arrivals here will pass 'very quickly' when they come before the Dáil.
Last week, the Government announced that some people arriving in Ireland - such as those without a negative PCR test, or anyone arriving from Brazil or South Africa - will face 14-day mandatory quarantine.
However, at Cabinet today ministers were told new legislation is needed, so the new rules won't be enforced for a number of weeks.
The hope in Government is to have it in place by March, but it's not guaranteed - which led to some unhappiness among ministers at their Cabinet meeting earlier.
Eamon Ryan told The Hard Shoulder that the necessary legislation for hotel quarantine will be introduced soon, and acknowledged ministers are anxious to get the new rules in force.
He said: “We’re all concerned to get these measures in place.
“We need to set up a system where we’re able to ensure - police, in a sense - that people are quarantining in a hotel that isn’t their primary residence or chosen residence.
“That does require legislation - that legislation will come before the Cabinet next week as I understand, and - subject to the Dáil agreeing it - it will be straight into the legislative process.
"I believe we can pass the legislation very quickly - that is the first priority.”
Reopening of schools
Meanwhile, talks are also continuing around the reopening of schools.
With special education schools set to start reopening from next week, focus has now shifted to whether Leaving Cert exams can proceed as normal this summer.
Education stakeholders met today to discuss the options, and are due to meet again later this week.
Minister Ryan said he believes Leaving Cert students should be the next priority when it comes to the reopening of schools.
While no decision has been taken yet on the staging of the written exams, he said everything should be done to give students a chance to sit their exams.
He added: “If we can collectively continue to bring [the virus] numbers down, we’ll be in that environment where schools were able to operate safely.”
