A GROUP of passengers travelling to Ireland were refused entry onto their Ryanair flight this week because of a mix-up with their Covid-19 test results.
It's understood that several passengers, who had booked a flight from Stansted Airport to Dublin on Monday were told they weren't allowed to board because they had taken the 'wrong' Covid-19 test.
Public health guidelines currently require passengers to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test in order to fly to and from specific destinations, and some governments are quite particular with which test results they accept.
The passengers were told they required negative results from a Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, but they had all taken a different one.
According to Extra.ie, a Ryanair spokesperson said that were denied entry to Ireland because Irish regulation states that a negative results from a Covid-19 RT-PCR was required by law.
"Travel restrictions update regularly. Ryanair urges all passengers to check the latest travel updates on the Ryanair.com website and with the relevant authorities in advance of their flight," the spokesperson said.
Despite this, Ireland's Department of Health insists that no changes had been made to the requirements.
"Travellers arriving into Ireland from overseas are required to present evidence of a negative/non-detected RT-PCR test carried out no more than 72 hours prior to arrival. The test result must be shown prior to boarding and once again to border officials upon arrival," a Department spokesperson said.
"There was no change to the requirement to present a negative/non-detected RT-PCR test result last Friday.
"The requirement for travellers arriving from all overseas countries to show a negative/non-detected Covid-19 RT-PCR was introduce on January 16 under SI 44/2021. From March 26, the requirement continues to be applied under SI 135/2021."