Mandatory hotel quarantine expected to begin later this week for air passengers from 33 countries

Minutes from a National Public Health Emergency Meeting last month show the group wanted to quarantine arrivals from all countries.

People coming to Ireland from the designated areas will have to stay in a hotel for 14 days, or face a fine or jail-time.

The contract for the system has been signed by the Tifco Hotel Group. 

Social Democrats Co-Leader Catherine Murphy says the Government has been dragging its heels on bringing the measure in:

"I can't understand why it has taken so long, the legislation has gone through, we would have thought that the preparations would have happened in parallel to the legislation being enacted, but everything is just pushed, pushed, pushed into the future."