Italy criticises Irish quarantine plans

A determined effort by the Irish Government to reduce the number of Covid 19 infections has unexpectedly strained relations with its EU colleague Italy. As Ken Murray reports from Dublin, the Italian Ambassador to Ireland was quick to criticise Irish quarantine plans in a move that has caused dismay in diplomatic circles.

Two weeks ago the Government in Dublin added Italy to a so-called ‘red list’ of 75 countries, including the USA, whereby any visitors visiting Ireland from these destinations would have to quarantine for 12 nights at a cost of €1,875 until given the corona virus all-clear to subsequently circulate amongst Irish people.

The policy was seen as a determined final push to decrease the number of infections in Ireland as the Government faces growing criticism over the slow roll-out of vaccinations.

What seemed liked commons sense by the Government in Dublin to prevent a fourth unpopular Irish lockdown was, to the bewilderment of the diplomatic corps in the City, met with surprising criticism when the Ambassador of Italy took to YouTube to record a highly critical attack on his political hosts.

Speaking to the Italian community in Ireland, Ambassador Paolo Serpi said on camera in his native language that the mandatory quarantine was “selective and discriminatory.

“We believe that these measures are excessive and do serious, severe harm to our co-nationals and in particular to our communities here in Ireland, and we cannot accept this.”

His words were met with shock and dismay within Irish political circles where comments and concerns of this nature are usually raised behind closed doors in polite diplomatic speak and not broadcast to the wider world!

Ambassador Serpi appeared to imply that the Irish Government was under the impression that the authorities in Italy were not taking the emergence of Covid variants with any sense of seriousness. He insisted that the reality is different.

In his YouTube address, Ambassador Serpi added, “I also noted that our country Italy is undertaking a serious vaccination campaign and that in reality in Italy there exists at this moment, the same variants that are hitting Ireland, there are not others.

“So measures that are in a way selective and discriminatory in Ireland towards communities, countries that are in the European Union, are measures that should be done with the utmost caution,” the ambassador added.

Questioned on RTE Radio about his comments, he said he believed that countries such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, France and Italy were being "targeted" by the Irish Government for "being serious in the detection of variants".

Surprised Irish Government officials were quick to play down the comments by Ambassador Serpi.

They insisted that they had engaged at all times with the European Commission about their Covid quarantine plans.

 “We kept the EU informed about our plans at every stage and the various EU member State embassies were also advised and briefed in advance about our plans,” a Government official in Dublin told the Irish Independent newspaper.

The Italian-Irish Chamber of Commerce also rowed in on the issue saying that that the decision by the Irish Government had not been properly thought out from a business point of view.

Its Secretary General Alberto Rizzini told the Irish Times, “The real issue here is the impact on the trade relationship between Italy and Ireland in the coming months. Such impact is not only for Italian companies or Italian businesses but for any corporation in Ireland working with Italy or having a large population of Italian employees.

“While larger corporations will be able to deal with this, smaller enterprises will struggle to survive,” he said.

In response to the diplomatic furore, Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, who has been under pressure over the slow roll-out of vaccines, went on RTE Television to defend his position.

He said he would “make no apologies” to the European Commission or Italian ambassador to Ireland for introducing mandatory hotel quarantine stating he was “confident” the move complies with existing EU laws relating to the free movement of people and the ongoing battle to tackle the global spread of the virus.

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