Ireland has signed up to the Green Digital Certificate Scheme and the country aims to comply with European travel regulations in the coming weeks, a government spokesperson said.
Officials are said to be «working around the clock» to get the EU system up and running in time for July 19, The date that the government said She hopes that non-essential international travel will return.
The certificate will facilitate freedom of movement for EU citizens during the pandemic in the EU and EEA countries such as Norway and Iceland.
However, some in government circles believe another public rift between the government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) over the return of overseas travel could be on the cards.
The focus this week has been on the delta variant of Covid-19 and how it could affect the reopening of domestic hospitality on July 5, but ministers believe the next big problem will be the resumption of non-essential travel to and from the country two weeks later.
Tanistee Leo Varadkar made it clear last weekend that young people who are not fully vaccinated can travel abroad this summer, despite the dissenting advice from Medical Director Dr Tony Holohan last week.
People under 30 are unlikely to get two doses of the vaccine until September at the earliest, and the chief marketing officer has urged that group of people not to travel this summer if they are not fully vaccinated.
There are now concerns that public health experts will warn against resuming travel in July, with sources saying they expect more mixed messages on the issue.
Sources indicated that the NPHET’s briefing on overseas travel is not in line with the government’s policy on this issue.
And this evening, a spokesperson for Tanist said قال the magazine That Varadkar was simply stating the government’s stance on international travel, which I outlined in part several weeks ago, when he made his comments at the weekend.
comprehensive campaign The new EU digital certificate is expected to be released by the government before July 19.
We are expected to make it clear that those who have been vaccinated, those who have received a negative PCR test result, or those who have contracted Covid-19 in the past nine months, will be able to travel abroad.
It is not fair to ban non-essential travel at this point, said one of the sources, who explained that many families have already booked flights abroad to see their loved ones.
Secretary of State Ossian Smith told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne today that while July 19 is the date the government expects to resume overseas travel, the government «cannot guarantee that.»
He said the fact that the UK had to delay reopening entirely for a number of weeks showed there was «still a risk associated» with reopening, and that there was «no guarantee» about a particular date.
But he added that the return of international travel on July 19 remains the «current plan». He said that if numbers remain low, Ireland will be able to allow overseas travel to return.
Under the European Union’s digital certificate system, certificates will have a barcode that can be scanned at airports and which will allow people to travel or not.
The certificate contains only necessary basic information such as name, date of birth, date of issue, relative information about the vaccine test or recovery, and a unique identifier.
The minister said the data is expected to remain on the certificate, and will not be stored or retained when the certificate is verified in another member state.
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Each certificate will contain a QR code with a digital signature to protect against forgery. When the certificate is scanned, the QR code is scanned and the signature is verified.
The signature can be verified using special software that can be run from an application on the phone or other device that can read the QR code.
The minister added that passengers without a certificate will be required to carry negative test documents or proof of vaccination to travel, although this process may take longer.