In many ways, this article shouldn’t be noteworthy. The European Union already declared its intentions to open to vaccinated travelers from all over the globe this summer, and to introduce “green certificates” to verify testing and vaccination data.
But as a dynamic bloc of countries, each with the power to implement certain rules as they wish, Ireland remained a bit of a wildcard.
Whereas countries like Greece and Croatia signaled their intentions to welcome visitors, with our without vaccination from May, Ireland was less open about whether or not they’d follow EU advice and welcome foreign visitors. Ireland now plans to welcome outside visitors from July 19th, bringing welcome news for travelers.
Ireland Opening To Outside Travel
Ireland will embrace the EU’s digital “green certificate” app to help verify and vet vaccinated travelers or those possessing a negative covid-19 test, hoping to enter the country this summer. This will include any visitors from the USA, UK and elsewhere.
All fully vaccinated travelers, will be able to skip testing or quarantine requirements when entering Ireland. Fully vaccinated is defined by receiving the final required dose at least 14 days prior to the day of travel.
Unvaccinated travelers from outside the EU will be required to provide a negative covid-19 test before departure, and will need to self isolate until a post arrival test result is confirmed to be negative.
What’s Life Like In Ireland Right Now?
Ireland faced strict lockdown restrictions throughout the pandemic, but is now actively moving back to normalcy. Hotels reopen June 2nd, and bars and restaurants can once again serve outdoors as of June 7th, and will begin meaningfully reopening from July 5th, ahead of the return of international travel.
Sporting events will also resume and many key tourism areas will be fully reopened in July, and large gatherings, like indoor concerts are slated to return from August.
If you’ve been longing for a trip to Ireland, July 19th will be the first chance for visitors from outside the EU to enter without testing or quarantine, provided they’ve been fully vaccinated. We’ll update this article if anything changes.
Fingers and toes crossed that this happens! Now let’s see what Scandinavia (minus Sweden, which has already wisely announced it is closed through August 31st) does.