Digital Covid certificate timing
Deputy McNamara challenged the Government's handling of the European digital Covid certificate and the timing of travel restrictions. The exchanges became heated, with the Taoiseach insisting Ireland was aligned with the framework, that people could travel, and that the State would be ready for 19 July.
In response to the crisis in the aviation sector generally, and Shannon Airport in particular, many of the Ministers, and indeed backbenchers, said that the digital green pass would be the panacea. I have the regulation introducing it. It came into effect on 1 July. The State does not have six weeks to begin implementing it; it has six weeks to implement it completely. Crucially, as of 1 July, the State must issue certificates to people who have been vaccinated, who have recovered or who have been tested, not in the agreed format, but so that they can travel. Instead, the Ministers have increased the ban on non-essential foreign travel in contravention of that. Does the Government adhere to the rule of law and the belief in the supremacy of EU law?
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He signed a statutory instrument on 4 July-----
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Does the Taoiseach know what he is doing?
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The Government is signing on with the European digital Covid certificate framework in terms of travel. People can travel now, by the way.
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-----signed a regulation making it unlawful to travel-----
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-----for non-essential reasons until 19 July, in contravention of this.
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But it is not 19 July. This came into force on 1 July.