Popular holiday destinations like Spain, France and Portugal are not expected to be included in the ‘green’ list of countries deemed safe to travel to from Ireland.

Popular holiday destinations like Spain, France and Portugal are not expected to be included in the ‘green’ list of countries deemed safe to travel to from Ireland.
International travel advice is to be updated by the Government on Monday.
The list is expected to include fewer than 20 countries that have similar or lower rates of new Covid-19 cases than Ireland.
One key measure will be the number of new cases per 100,000 of population over the past two weeks.
In Ireland that figure is four.
The countries in Europe with a lower number include Norway, Finland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, and Latvia.
Countries that would be not be included on the ‘green’ list based  on this method, include Britain, Spain, France, Portugal and Germany.
Other factors will be taken in to account too and will likely determine whether countries like Italy, the Netherlands or Greece, which have similar but slightly higher rates than Ireland, will make the cut.
The EU has published a list of 12 non-EU countries that it deems safe to travel to including Australia Canada and New Zealand
But Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has indicated Ireland will take a far more conservative approach than the wider EU.
Work will continue this weekend on preparing the list and when  it is published on Monday it will be updated every two weeks.
The general advice will remain against all non essential travel, but separate advice will be given for countries on the green list and it is understood that advice will be  around exercising caution.
People will not be asked to restrict their movements or isolate after visiting countries on the green list.