The Irish Government has put together a green list of countries that it is safe to visit. This means people who return from there will not have to self-isolate for 14 days when they return.
While this is all well and good, the powers that be still recommend avoiding any non-essential travel. Yes, it’s mixed messages ahoy from the leadership and it gets worse when you see the list.
A Green List Of Places Hard To Get To
Fifteen countries made the green list. The easy ones to get to include the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. airBaltic serve Vilnius and Riga, with Ryanair also flying to the latter, Kaunas and Tallinn.
Unless you have a boat or a helicopter to get to Monaco, you are going to have to drive through France, which is not on the list. It’s similar with Gibraltar and Norway, both having no direct air services from Ireland.
The other countries are easier to get to. Malta, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Cyprus, Slovakia and Greece all have direct air services with Ryanair, Finnair, Aegean Airlines and Aer Lingus. Finally, they included San Marino on the list, which is accessible from Italy, so all good there too.
Overall Thoughts
Mixed messages it certainly is, and it calls to mind all the cheeky Irish jokes we used to tell as kids in primary school. The green list is at odds with EU advice that travel should be permitted throughout the area. It’s also quite surprising not see countries like Iceland on the list.
I guess we can take solace in the fact the list will be updated every two weeks. Regardless, flights are operating to many other countries such as France, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and more, so it is possible to go abroad.
What do you think of Ireland’s green list? Will you be heading away this year or not? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Nuuk by patano via Wikimedia Commons.
Narsarsuaq Airport by Algkalv via Wikimedia Commons.
