Ireland to respect mask policies of international airlines flying here

Irish authorities will not enforce Covid mask-wearing on passengers flying with international airlines whose home countries have axed the requirement.

The Republic and EU states continue to demand that their airlines require passengers to wear masks on board aircraft while the US ditched its mandate earlier this month.

A Department of Transport spokeswoman confirmed that the Republic would not enforce its mask-wearing rules on US and other airlines flying in and out of the country if their home jurisdictions no longer required it.

“It’s up to the airlines,” she said, explaining that they could apply their own terms and conditions on passengers, taking into account whatever rules were in place in the countries to which they were flying.

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A department statement noted that “airlines operating in international airspace are subject to the rules of their home state”.

However, the mask rule continues to apply to passengers and crew on Irish carriers, including Aer Lingus and Ryanair, while flying out of the Republic and other EU countries.

Jurisdiction requirements

The US transport and security administration axed the mask mandate 10 days ago, prompting statements from the country’s airlines confirming they would no longer require it of passengers on domestic flights.

However, US airlines pointed out that rules in other countries continued to require face masks, indicating that they would continue to take account of other jurisdictions’ requirements.

American Airlines, which has several Irish routes, said "face masks may still be required based on local ordinances, or when travelling to/from certain international locations based on country requirements".

United Airlines, another US carrier that serves the Republic, told customers that if they were flying internationally, "whether face coverings are required is dependent upon the arrival country's mask requirements".

Irish rules

Meanwhile, the Government could review the Irish mask mandate once EU authorities end consideration of their recommendations at the end of this month.

According to the Department of Transport, recommendations from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) "closely inform" the Irish rules.

“The EASA/ECDC protocol is currently being reviewed at European level and it is expected that a revised draft will be available to EU member states for comment towards the end of April,” said the department.

It added that the Government would review the Irish rules with airlines and other interested groups once the revised European recommendation was available.

The Government was slower than all other EU states to reopen for travel last year.

It only adopted an EU-wide certificate that proved vaccination or immunity, restoring freedom of movement within the union, in mid July, while other members began using it up to a month earlier.