A LIMIT on the number of arrivals into Ireland is being considered by Government, according to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
Arrivals could be capped from countries designated as 'Category 2' on Ireland's travel list, including the United States and Canada.
When asked if the Irish Government would consider implementing an approach similar to that of Australia and New Zealand - where arrivals numbers are strictly managed from specific countries - Minister Donnelly admitted that it was possible "if the demand for hotel quarantine outstrips available capacity."
"It is the case, as with the New Zealand system, the Australian system and other quarantine systems, that you may not in all cases be able to have a room allocated on every single day that you may want to travel," he told Morning Ireland.
"The way that would work really is allocation based on room availability. but for the system that we have in place, what we want to do is we want to match supply to demand.
"What we don't want is a situation whereby you have a lot go people who are already scheduled to come back to Ireland, who are arriving to Dublin Airport or Rosslare Port, or anywhere else, and they haven't booked," he added.
There are currently just 650 spaces available in Ireland's designated quarantine hotels for those arriving in the country.
The Government said it expects demand to nearly double that availability in the coming weeks after several more countries were added to the mandatory quarantine list last Friday.
Of the 71 countries currently on the travel list, 16 of them are classified as 'Category 2' and limits could be placed on arrivals from each of them.
Those countries are: Armenia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Curacao, France, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Maldives, Pakistan Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.
See More: Covid-19, Ireland, Stephen Donnelly, Travel
