Travel to Ireland via NI from England

[Witchgonebad]

We booked a holiday last year to ROI in October. The Balance is due in a few weeks.

We’re meant to be driving from England to Scotland and getting the ferry to Belfast then driving across to ROI.

The UK isn’t currently on Ireland’s green list so our trip looks like a no go if things stays as they are.

Have I got the rules right? Are the rules the same as we’re travelling across the border from NI? And the ferry is coming from Scotland.

You can enter ireland from n ireland no problem without the need to quarantine. www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/travel.html

NI is in the UK isn’t it?

Even if you’re actually coming from England?
Is that right?

Yes, Northern Ireland is in the UK. But unsurprisingly there is an exception to quarantine rules for travellers NI NI

NI is in the Uk but sous Wales and they have their own rules re Covid.
This is so confusing.

If you look at the exceptions in the link I posted its clear.

"Exceptions
The only people who do not need to restrict their movements are people who are:

arriving in the State from Northern Ireland......."

There is free travel between NI & ROI, however OP states they are driving from England so presumably their car won't have plates from either? I have no idea if the Garda have the power to stop them, or could even be arsed to do so, but might be worth checking.

Things might not be the same in October, there may be a border by Then and you won’t be able to freely travel from north to south . I’m in ROI and I have family in NI. The current thinking is that with the winter season there will be a lot of local lockdowns which means no crossing over the boarder .
I would cancel your trip and have your holiday in the uk

The rules are clear - why would the garda stop them??? Even if op was stopped what problem would that cause?

I was wondering about that, ifailed but a lot of NI cars have english reg plates these days so not sure how they'd know

I assumed that exception meant if you lived in NI.
So if we arrived via ferry in Dublin we do have to quarantine, but if we arrive via ferry Belfast and drive over order we don’t? Surely that doesn’t make sense?

Who can I check with for official clarification in case we get questioned?

Yes you can go across the border without needing to quarantine.

This may not be a popular comment, but I live in NI on the border. We need to be able to travel freely over the border as it is so close.

The rule, while of course it can’t stipulate, is really made for people like us here, who have no real choice but to cross the border multiple times a week.

We have done well over here, both north and south, in keeping our figures down, please don’t exploit this loophole for a holiday. We already know that’s our biggest COVID threat comes from GB.

You will get into ROI fine from NI. You are right that England isn't on our green list, so you are meant to quarantine when you get here, but nobody is actually going to check.

I'd be more concerned that travel might be clamped down on again in Oct (if numbers start to go up again) so maybe check what happens in that instance, will your provider let you refund/rebook.

The link I posted above is a official link - there are no restrictions travelling from Northern Ireland, doesn't matter whether or not you are resident of Northern Ireland.

@Luckystar1 We absolutely don’t wish to exploit any loopholes, just trying to make sense of the rules.

@Witchgonebad
Well yes, technically you can cross from NI to ROI having travelled from England. But it's not really in the spirit, is it? The whole point of excluding certain countries from travelling directly into ROI is to contain the spread of Covid. That's a serious public health issue.

Not sure if we can cancel or rebook, will have to look into it.
Was just meant to be a simple trip, no touristy stuff, just out walking etc.
A while ago, I was thinking if we booked a click & collect slot to pick up shopping for week we wouldn’t have to be in contact with anyone while over there.

I think theoretically you wouldn't be doing anything wrong. But that it would be exploiting a loophole that was intended for the people of N Ireland.

I'm from N Ireland and was in Ireland recently and our car has English number plates, although it was bought in N Ireland, and I did feel a bit uncomfortable in case people felt we shouldn't be there, but then as soon as people heard us speak they knew we were from the north. I know there was bit of anger whilst we were there about tourists arriving and refusing to quarantine, but the discussion focused quite strongly on American tourists, I'm not sure what the feelings were towards people coming from Great Britain.

Are the ferry company willing to let you rebook for a later date? You'd have a far better holiday if you could postpone it to a later date.

Just go! Its not a "loophole" its a clear exemption. If Ireland had wanted to they could have made the exception just for Northern Irish residents. They didn't. The exception still ensures restricted numbers from the UK.

@Ahballix Exactly I realise this and intend to stick to the rules.
I was just trying to work out the exact meaning of the wording.

The Uk Ireland rules can be a bit muddled even more so when you throw in a ferry from Scotland and few more months of potential rule changes.

We didn’t book this trip during the pandemic and because of the vague rules might not get a refund.

My understanding is that technically you wouldn't have to quarantine - no need to quarantine between GB and NI, and no need to quarantine between NI and ROI.

However, if you were to take a ferry direct from England to ROI you would have to quarantine, so it's really not in the spirit IMO. The NI ROI border is open for obvious reasons, and hopefully will remain so as life in the border regions would grind to a halt otherwise.

Quarantine for travel into NI from GB has been discussed and may yet be required, but obviously a contentious issue given the politics of it.

A lot may change between now and October.

The UK is not on Ireland's green list for a reason. I doubt you'd be welcomed.

@Witchgonebad
You want to try living here (I'm in NI) - understanding the 'rules' is a blinking minefield, even when there isn't a pandemic

[quote Witchgonebad]@Ahballix Exactly I realise this and intend to stick to the rules.
I was just trying to work out the exact meaning of the wording.

The Uk Ireland rules can be a bit muddled even more so when you throw in a ferry from Scotland and few more months of potential rule changes.

We didn’t book this trip during the pandemic and because of the vague rules might not get a refund.[/quote]
How would you be sticking to the rules when you know people from UK (outside of NI residents) should be travelling to Ireland.