David Gardiner, Workers’ Party representative for Palmerstown-Fonthill has called for an all-island approach to COVID-19, calling the travel ban on Britain “redundant” as a result of the border in the north.

“The government recently announced, amongst other restrictions, an extension of the travel ban on Britain. This, however, has been made redundant by the border in the north.”

He continued:

“The north has decided against implementing a travel ban on Britain, meaning that somebody in Britain could travel to Dublin via Belfast, completely undermining the travel ban.

“This puts people both north and south at risk unnecessarily.”

“The Workers’ Party is calling for an all-island approach to COVID-19 based on the foot and mouth response. The lack of political willingness to do this shows a total disregard for public health and human life.”

Concluding, Gardiner said:

“The current set-up clearly doesn’t benefit the people of this island, north, south, Catholic, Protestant or otherwise. Without a unified response, both jurisdictions will continue to struggle to combat the virus.”