The wife of an Irish man due to return from the United States in the coming days says her husband has nowhere to go.
It comes after the mandatory hotel quarantine booking system was temporarily suspended on Tuesday.
The Department of Health said this was done to allow an assessment of capacity within the system for the coming days.
Terri Kruschke told Lunchtime Live her husband Eric went over to the US a few weeks ago following a death.
"My husband basically is in the [United] States at the moment - he had to go over a couple of weeks ago for a bereavement.
"And in the midst of all of this we got the PCR test, we did everything right.
"And then the quarantine came up last weekend, and the US was added to the list.
An American Airlines plane landing at Dublin Airport on April 13th 2021. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie"So we're like 'OK, we can do this, we can do quarantine' - he's meant to arrive this Friday.
"But then in the midst of that we couldn't book... and now all of a sudden we're being told if he arrives on Friday, supposedly a walk-in, and what's going to happen because he may not have a place until Monday".
'Will he be stuck?'
Terry said she is worried that he will be stuck in The Netherlands, where his connecting flight is.
"We actually don't know: is he going to kept in America until Monday, is he going to fly to his connecting flight in The Netherlands and be told 'You have to stay in the Netherlands now from Friday to Monday'.
"Will he be like Viktor Navorski in 'The Terminal' where he's stuck in Dublin Airport for a few days?
"Especially because it was a bereavement, is there compassionate grounds?
"He has a home in Ireland, we're Irish citizens - could he come home and self-isolate?".
Terry said he found out about the mandatory quarantine change from his employers.
"He looked into that, and now we're being told the quarantine system is being paused - this is Wednesday, he's meant to travel Thursday to arrive in Ireland on Friday.
"We had made the decision - we'll do the quarantine, we'll do the booking - but when we tried to book last weekend, the US wasn't on the list.
"So now we're trying to book but the hotels aren't on the list".
And Terry said the clock is ticking: "He actually contacted the quarantine hotel by e-mail, and they have given him no response.
"So I was really careful to - 'will I call the Department of Foreign Affairs? What will I do?' - so I decided to contact Newstalk.
"Maybe we can get some answers... we have about eight/nine hours before I retire for the night, and can we figure something out so that we can make a plan.
"Right now, we're not sure what to do".
