Ireland: Tánaiste wants travel to Britain back by summer

Travel between Britain and Ireland could be back by the summer period, according to Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Leo Varadkar.

Mr Varadkar made the comments at a virtual conference for publicans in Ireland on Tuesday.

He said international travel between parts of Europe and the United States may not return until next year.

But he said that there was a "strong case" for restoring travel to Britain this summer.

"One thing I would like to see and this would be very good for places like Kerry, is a return to travel between Ireland and the United Kingdom, a return to the Common Travel Area as it's supposed to be, travel between Britain and Ireland with no restrictions," he said.

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"I think I can make the case for that, they've been very successful in Britain with their vaccine programme, they're ahead of us in terms of vaccination."

Mr Varadkar said the issue would need addressing due to changes already due to come into effect in June.

"A really weird situation is going to arise in June, whereby we can go on holidays or visit relatives in Northern Ireland, people from Northern Ireland can come here, people from England, Scotland and Wales can go to Northern Ireland, people from Northern Ireland would be able to go to England, Scotland and Wales," he said.

"Wouldn't it be a bit bizarre if we couldn't go to England and English people couldn't come here?

"So I think there will be a strong case this summer to restore travel to Britain."

The issue of cross-border travel between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic has been a focus for Health Minister Robin Swann recently.

Last week, Mr Swann asked for a meeting with his counterpart Stephen Donnelly to discuss the potential spread of Covid-19 by people crossing the border.

In his letter Mr Swann said both governments should be doing "all we can to prevent non-essential cross-border travel".

"In the present circumstances, crossing the border for non-essential shopping or socialising purposes creates an unnecessary risk of virus spread," he wrote.

He said he looked forward to a time when normal cross-border activity could resume, but warned: "We are not there yet."