The chief executive of Daa, the operator of Dublin and Cork airports, has said that he is worried the recent cyber attack on the HSE could delay the introduction of the EU Digital Covid Certificate in Ireland.
Speaking to Prime Time, Dalton Philips said that, while he recognised that the Department of Health was under "huge pressure" due to the cyber attack, Ireland could not end up being out of step with the rest of Europe.
"I am worried about the start date to go live," Mr Philips said.
Mr Philips' comments come even after the Minister of State for eGovernment, Ossian Smyth, said that the cyber attack was not expected to delay the implementation of the certificate.
Mr Smyth said on Prime Time on Tuesday that the EU was due to pass legislation for the certs by 26 June, and that Ireland should be ready to sign up to the system "within a week" of that date.
This would allow the certs to come into operation by early July.
But Mr Philips said that would-be holiday makers wanted to know how the system would work.
"At the moment, there isn't clarity," he said.
"We know we're going to adopt it, but we haven't seen how it will work."
Mr Philips noted that, though the country's "hugely complex" border control system was operated by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, airports work "very closely" with the service.
The Daa therefore needs clarity from Government on how and when the certificates would be implemented in Ireland, he said, particularly as plans are announced tomorrow for many aspects of the reopening of society.
"Health needs to take primacy. Nobody is debating that health shouldn't take primacy. But we need clarity on what are the steps to opening," he said.
"And my concern is: we stand here at the end of May, the rest of Europe is starting to open – we can see that in the traffic numbers across Europe. We are the absolute outlier.
"When you compare our [air traffic] numbers in the last two weeks compared to the growth being seen elsewhere in Europe, we are a total outlier and we don't have a plan."
Mr Philips called for a gradual easing of restrictions on travel, beginning with a June reopening of the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain.
"We already have a porous border with the North, so we should open up to the UK," he said. "They have never shut their border to us."
Mr Philips said he would like to see a resumption of travel within the European Union in July, and a resumption to the US "towards the end of the summer".
The financial impact of Covid-19 has been "catastrophic" for the Daa, which has been losing around €1m a day since the pandemic began.
Mr Philips warned that Dublin Airport was now "at the very bottom of the league table in terms of connectivity".
"If I was from Mars, I'd look at this and say, 'oh you have obviously dug a tunnel to the rest of Europe'," he said.
"It is impossible to be an island and cut yourself off so dramatically. We've done that – and my concern is there hasn't been a debate about it."
