Anyone wishing to bring a yacht into an Irish port from abroad will have to wait a little longer as the official line remains “essential travel only”.
Despite last week’s slight relaxation of movement restrictions within Ireland — with people now allowed to travel within their own county or within 20km of home if crossing a county border — there has been no change for boaters hoping to sail here from abroad.
And indeed, the new mandatory hotel quarantine (MHQ) measures may further complicate matters.
As far as one prominent Dublin marina is concerned, there are no berths open for foreign vessels under the current level of COVID-19 restrictions.
“In general, as we in Dun Laoghaire Marina do not allow quarantining aboard at the marina, we are politely declining any requests for visits from foreign-owned boats,” general manager Paal Janson says.
While the Department of Transport “are happy for the marina to take responsibility for issuing or even collecting passenger locator forms”, DL Marina management have declined to take on this responsibility, he adds.
Other ports may have different arrangements, and interested parties are recommended to seek written consent from the relevant harbour/port authority. “It may be no harm to receive advice from [email protected],” Janson adds.
But as the official line remains ‘essential travel only’, he is of the opinion that “holidaying yachtsmen are not high on the list of priorities” for Transport officials for the time being.
“The feeling is once cruise ships are allowed into Irish ports and harbours again, then foreign yachts will be similarly welcomed back,” Janson says.
“I think now the focus should shift towards allowing people who are vaccinated to travel freely,” Janson says. “The issue of vaccination passports, harmonisation of travel within EU states, etc. must now be considered and a pathway back to normality be created.
“The end of this unprecedented pandemic is close at hand and we need now to be looking at all avenues for the resumption of travel, sport and business.”
