March, 2022 | EU/Schengen
An EU citizen living and working in Ireland has been allowed by the High Court to challenge COVID-19 public health regulations under which he was subject to a €2,000 fine after he travelled to Portugal in order to renew his family’s permission to remain there, according to the Journal.
Imran Ali, who holds Portuguese citizenship, has claimed the regulations violate Ireland and EU law in being insufficiently clear to allow him to get to know the consequences of his travelling to an airport in order to leave the State to assist his wife and two sons in prolonging their immigration permission in order to remain there, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
During a High Court judgement, Justice Garret Simsons stressed that Ali had reached the legal threshold, permitting his case to be heard and determined.
Authorities in Ireland have kept in place strict entry rules and other preventive measures in order to stop the further spread of the Coronavirus and its new strains, following the example of countries worldwide.
Previously, authorities in Ireland announced that travellers who plan to enter Ireland without a negative result of the Coronavirus test would be subject to fines.
In addition, the government stressed that it was considering the possibility of imposing fines on carriers who do not conduct proper pre-flight checks of travellers to ensure they hold negative results of the COVID-19 test.
However, the Irish government has changed the approach to the virus, thus deciding to ease the restrictions and entry rules imposed to halt its further spread.
Earlier this week, authorities in Ireland announced that citizens from other countries who plan to enter Ireland would no longer be subject to entry requirements after they have been abolished. Such a decision was confirmed by the Irish government while stressing that travellers are exempted from the requirement to present proof of vaccination or recovery from the virus.
Besides, travellers are also exempted from the requirement to fill in the Passenger Locator Form (PLF).
According to the figures provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a total of 1,322,591 people have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, and 6,570 people have died.
Despite the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, authorities in Ireland have decided to facilitate the travel process and help the travel and tourism sector recover from the damages caused by the virus.