C21

Prospective affecting provision: section inserted by Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Act 2021 (37/2021), s. 3, not commenced as of date of revision.

F91[38S.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of giving further effect to sections 38N to 38Z and for any matter stated, in those sections, to be prescribed and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing may—

(a) provide for the manner in which services referred to in section 38T are to be established or to be operated, including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any of the following:

(i) the orderly establishment and operation of those services, including the manner in which such services, or class of services, are to be operated, staffed, monitored, developed, provisioned and secured;

(ii) the manner in which such services are to be operated so as to best prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread (including outside the State) of Covid-19 and any variant thereof;

(iii) the manner in which service agreements relating to a service, or class of services, operate so as to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread (including outside the State) of Covid-19 and any variant thereof;

(iv) the manner in which personal data and special categories of personal data (within the meaning of section 38W) of applicable travellers and dependant persons are to be processed;

(v) the proper use of resources, including human resources, provided to or used by a provider of services referred to in section 38T;

(vi) the safeguards, including medical procedures, standards and work practices, required to be put in place by approved persons providing the services, in relation to applicable travellers and dependant persons,

(b) provide for the manner in which a designated facility, or class of designated facilities, is to be established or to be operated including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any of the following:

(i) the orderly establishment and operation of those facilities, including the manner in which such facilities, or class of facilities, is to be operated, staffed, monitored, developed, provisioned and secured;

(ii) the manner in which such facilities are to be operated so as to best prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread (including outside the State) of Covid-19 and any variant thereof;

(iii) the manner in which service agreements relating to a facility, or class of facilities, operate so as to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread (including outside the State) of Covid-19 and any variant thereof;

(iv) the manner in which personal data and special categories of personal data (within the meaning of section 38W) of applicable travellers and dependant persons who are required to quarantine in a designated facility are to be processed;

(v) the proper use of resources, including human resources, provided to or used by a designated facility;

(vi) the safeguards, including medical procedures, standards and work practices, required to be put in place by approved persons, or any other person working at or with a designated facility, in relation to applicable travellers and dependant persons while in the facility,

(c) provide for such additional, incidental, consequential or supplemental matters as the Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of giving full effect to sections 38N to 38Z,

(d) prescribe a class or classes of persons as exempted travellers for the purposes of paragraph (j) of the definition of "exempted traveller" in section 38N(26),

(e) prescribe a class or classes of persons (which may include all persons) as persons to whom section 38N(1) (b) applies,

(f) having regard to the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health, prescribe a test, the purpose of which is to detect Covid-19 or the virus SARS-CoV-2 in the person to whom it is administered, that may be used as an alternative to a RT-PCR test (within the meaning of section 38N(26) ) for the purposes of such provisions of sections 38N to 38Z and such regulations made under this Act as he or she may prescribe and in so prescribing, the Minister may, in relation to such a test—

(i) provide for the manner in which the test shall be administered,

(ii) prescribe a person as a person approved by the Minister to conduct the test, and

(iii) prescribe such fee (if any) to be paid by a person who takes the test,

(g) having regard to the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health, prescribe the circumstances in which a person who is an applicable traveller by virtue of section 38N(1) (b) shall not be required to quarantine at a designated facility and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may prescribe that such a person shall not be required to so quarantine where—

(i) the person presents himself or herself to a relevant person or a member of the Garda Síochána on his or her arrival in the State,

(ii) the person takes a test prescribed by, and in accordance with, regulations under paragraph (f) on his or her arrival in the State,

(iii) the person pays such fee as may be prescribed for the test,

(iv) the person remains at such place as he or she may be directed to remain by a relevant person or a member of the Garda Síochána until the receipt of the result of the test, and

(v) the result of the test is that Covid-19 or the virus SARS-CoV-2 is not detected,

(h) prescribe a person as a person approved by the Minister to conduct RT-PCR tests,

(i) prescribe other purposes referred to in section 38N(20) (d),

(j) prescribe such lesser number of days for the purposes of—

(i) section 38N(1)(a) and (b) in relation to when a person was last in a designated state or non-designated state, as the case may be,

(ii) quarantine under section 38N(2), and

(iii) isolation in section 38N(2) where Covid-19 or the virus SARS-CoV-2 is detected,

as the Minister considers appropriate having regard to the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health,

(k) prescribe for the rules and procedures to apply to the determination of a request made under section 38N(17) by a designated appeals officer (within the meaning of section 38N),

(l) prescribe—

(i) the manner in which costs chargeable to an applicable traveller under section 38R are to be paid and to whom, and

(ii) a class or classes of applicable traveller who shall be exempt, whether in whole or in part, from the obligation to pay such costs by reason of the financial circumstances of such persons,

(m) prescribe for the rules and procedures to apply to the making of an application under section 38Z, and the grounds (in addition to those specified in the section) on which such applications may be made and authorisations and permissions under that section may be granted,

(n) on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health, remove or add to the symptoms listed in paragraphs (a) to (e) of the definition of symptom in section 38N, and

(o) make provision for such measures as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the effective operation and administration of the system of quarantine of persons provided for under sections 38N to 38Z, or the amelioration of the operation of such system, including making provision, in so far as appears to the Minister to be necessary or expedient, for giving effect, in conformity with the provisions of this Act, to the public health advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1)(d), the Minister may prescribe as exempted travellers under that paragraph—

(a) persons who perform essential services, including statutory duties or other specified public or other services, or

(b) persons arriving at a port or airport in the State for the purposes of travelling to another state, and who do not leave the port or airport before so travelling.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1)(c), regulations under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(4) The power of the Minister to make regulations under subsection (1)(a) or (b) is without prejudice to the power of the Minister to provide for any matter referred to in that provision by administrative arrangement or contract where it is appropriate to do so.]