“I can only commend you.”
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has praised Ireland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic as “exemplary”
During a briefing with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin on Friday morning, von der Leyen was asked whether she thought Ireland was being overly cautious, compared to other EU countries, regarding the return of international travel and indoor dining.
She responded: “I’ve looked at the numbers and the development over the last six months before coming here and Ireland is exemplary in the way it has approached this pandemic.
“All the difficulties we’ve faced together, we’ve overcome together.
“An excellent performance where delivery of vaccines is concerned and the response of this country, so, here I can only commend you.”
She said that while the EU has common rules for travel, they must be flexible “in so far as that you have to look at the specific epidemiological situation of a region”.
“Therefore, I welcome that Ireland has joined our Covid certifcate,” von der Leyen said, before adding: “But all our member states, and of course Ireland too, have always the possibility and the responsibility to look at the individual regional epidemiological situation and then to adapt the approvals to that situation.”
On Thursday, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly stated that the return of international travel will “go ahead” next week but with provisos agreed two weeks ago by government.
“If you’re fully vaccinated or you’re recovered, obviously go but the travel advisory from a public health perspective is if you’re not, to still avoid non-essential travel,” the Health Minister said.
Asked if further reopenings due in the coming weeks and months will be affected by the increase in case numbers at this point, Donnelly replied: “Right now, we don’t believe so.
“The vaccine programme really is going from strength to strength and between following the public health measures and the vaccine programme, we’re going to be pushing back on this virus.”
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