Martin: Uefa was 'out of order' to try to force large crowds into stadia
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European football agency Uefa was “out of order” in seeking to force countries to accept large crowds into stadia for the European Championships given high levels of Covid-19, the Taoiseach has said.
Mr Martin said he felt opening up the Aviva Stadium in June for games was “never a realistic proposition".
“I thought UEFA were out of order, quite frankly, putting that condition on countries," Mr Martin said.
"If you look at what's happening all over Europe in terms of the B117 variant and in terms of the high incidence in the European member state countries, to be putting obligations on countries to force spectators in prematurely was a wrong call by the footballing authorities.
“I never thought it was a realistic proposition if I'm honest. I think we need to learn from previous experiences,” Mr Martin said.
In relation to plans to re-open the economy, Mr Martin said the country will “not be letting rip” during the summer, saying the priority will be to allow people to do more things outdoors.
Responding to media reports which quoted comments from chief medical officer Tony Holohan that indoor events would not be possible, Mr Martin said the Government will proceed on a scientific basis.
“We know that outdoor is less harmful in the context of the spread of this virus than indoor,” he added.
Mr Martin said he could absolutely understand that hospitality sector livelihoods are at stake and that clarity on indoor activity is important as quickly as possible.
“It's been devastated as a result of this pandemic. But what I said at the outset is anything we open we want to keep open," he said.
"We want to end this start-stop approach and many people in different sectors have said that to us.”
In terms of vaccines, Mr Martin said the progress made on vaccine rollout is encouraging but when pressed on delivery of the one million doses per month, he said “May and June were always going to be the heavy months” in terms of delivery.
On the digital green cert, Ireland will be part of that European Union approach, and the Government has set up a policy group in his department to work out the policy aspects of it, he said.
Mr Martin said by July there'll be very significant levels of vaccination across Europe, so positions will change in terms of travel advice.
"We're an inter-connected island and we're a global island in terms of economy, in terms of our society and in terms of our people. So by July, we will have very significant numbers of people vaccinated,” he said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he expects India to be added to the mandatory hotel quarantine list in the next 48 hours given the explosion of Covid-19 there at present.
He said what is going on in India is “a nightmare” and that it needs help in terms of ventilators and resources.
Mr Coveney said the Government does not have to wait for Nphet advice to know that India has huge challenges at the moment when it comes to Covid.
“But I expect that India is likely to be put on national quarantine list,” he said adding he is due to speak to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly about that later today.
Mr Coveney said that while he is hopeful international travel will be possible for fully vaccinated people later in the summer, he does not expect that to happen in June.
He said any move to adopt the EU’s digital green passport which would allow authorities to see a person’s vaccination history will be a decision for government.
He said the EU wants it approved by early June but said: “I don’t expect us using that in June but if we get the assurance from public health then things will be possible.” However, Mr Coveney said international travel “is not likely to be a big feature this summer".