Hard Rock Hotel and Clontarf Castle to be used for mandatory quarantine

The Government has officially selected the four hotels that will be used for the State’s mandatory quarantine regime.

On Wednesday the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly designated the following Dublin hotels for use: The Crowne Plaza in Santry, the Holiday Inn Express in Santry, Clontarf Castle in Clontarf and the Hard Rock Hotel at Exchange Street Upper.

It comes as new figures from the Department of Health show a slight rise in the number of people booking mandatory hotel quarantine stays in the State. There were 35 bookings on Tuesday, followed by another seven on Wednesday morning, and five more on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total to 47 bookings.

The Department of Health said that of the 42 bookings made until Wednesday morning, 15 are for March, 24 are for April and three are for May.

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A spokeswoman for the department said that since the requirement to enter into mandatory quarantine doesn’t come into place until Friday morning, nobody has yet arrived without a booking.

Passengers arriving from high-risk countries will have to complete 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine at a designated facility, but that could be reduced if a passenger receives a negative Covid test result, taken after 10 days.

It may also be extended if a passenger tests positive during their stay but the State will pick up the cost of an extended stay.

Passengers will also have to enter mandatory hotel quarantine if they do not provide evidence that they have a negative or "not detected" result from a PCR test carried out no more than 72 hours prior to arrival into Ireland.