Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has argued the introduction of mandatory quarantine is happening too late and described a "half-baked attempt" from Government in addressing this issue.
Speaking on RTÉ's Saturday with Katie Hannon, Mr Doherty said it is extremely frustrating for people and that there should have been a travel ban implemented immediately by Government when it knew of the new strain identified in Brazil.
Mr Doherty, who is Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson, said the fear is that with the variant now detected in Ireland, what if there are people who have not come forward who might be infected with it.