Minister for Health Simon Harris has said that from next week all passengers arriving into the country will be legally required to complete a passenger locator form.

The Government has made it mandatory for all travellers arriving in Ireland to provide an address to gardaí.

The regulations will be signed by Minister Harris and will come into effect from Thursday, 28 May. They will remain in effect until 18 June, when they will be reviewed.

The Government has said it continues to advise Irish citizens and residents against all non-essential international travel, and passengers arriving into Ireland from overseas are asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

Minister Harris said: "These are extraordinary measures but they are necessary in a time of a public health crisis.

"We continue to advise everyone against non-essential travel. However, if a person does arrive into Ireland, they will legally obliged to fill out this form, regardless of their nationality."

The minister said making it mandatory to fill out the form was an additional step to protect citizens from imported cases of Covid-19, which he said is a very real risk.

He said passengers will have the form emailed to them in advance of coming to Ireland and they will have to provide an address where they intend to stay for 14 days.

The restriction will apply to all those arriving into the country at ports and airports.

It will be an offence not to fill in a passenger location form. Mr Harris said penalties included fines of up to €2,500.

Mr Harris said self-isolation is not a legal requirement at the moment but is "strongly advised" by the Government.

He said he would be looking at the UK measures introduced today and did not rule out making self-isolation enforceable by law.

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"For the very small number who cannot self-isolate is there a need for the State to point them somewhere where they can do that? Possibly. But nowhere in Europe has mandatory quarantine facilities."

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan told a press briefing this evening that further restrictive measures for passengers arriving in Ireland are possible, based on what NPHET had advised the government.

Asked about making the 14-day self-isolation period mandatory, he said that would take more time to organise than today's announcement about passenger locator forms.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy has said the rules announced by the Government should have been introduced some time ago.

Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, he said that Ireland, as an island nation, had a particular advantage and this had not been utilised sufficiently up until now.

He said that for all the difficulties that the measure will present, it is the right thing to do.

Mr Carthy, who is a member of the Dáil Covid-19 Committee, said the Government also needed to address the issues of people who had holidays booked in July and August and who may not wish to proceed.

He said there is, as yet, no indication if refunds will be provided or what other supports might be put in place.

The UK announced new quarantine rules today. Exemptions for road hauliers and medical officials will apply, while the common travel area with Ireland will be unaffected.

Travellers will face spot checks and £1,000 fines if they fail to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the UK under measures to guard against a second wave of coronavirus.