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COVID-19

EXPLAINED: The Covid travel rules between France and Ireland this Christmas

Travel between France and Ireland over the festive period should be relatively straightforward compared to other destinations. But each country has its own entry requirements. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 6 December 2021 12:00 CET
A Ryanair flight takes off from an airport in Toulouse, France. Travel between France and Ireland is relatively straightforward, but there are important rules you should know about to avoid disappointment.
A Ryanair flight takes off from an airport in Toulouse, France. Travel between France and Ireland is relatively straightforward, but there are important rules you should know about to avoid disappointment. (Photo by PASCAL PAVANI / AFP)

Traveling to France from Ireland

Ireland is currently on the French ‘green list’ of countries. 

This means that traveling to France from Ireland is relatively straightforward. 

You can enter France whether you are fully vaccinated or not. 

If you are fully vaccinated you must present proof of vaccination via the EU Digital Covid certificate.

READ MORE How does France’s Covid traffic light system for travel work?

You must also sign a sworn statement saying that you do not have any Covid symptoms and have not been in contact with a confirmed case 14 days prior to your journey. It is available, in English, here. There is no need to take a negative test to enter France if you are considered fully vaccinated in Ireland. 

If you are unvaccinated, you must present a negative PCR or antigen test taken no more than 24 hours before your departure to France. If you go for an antigen test, it must be capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 N protein. You must also sign the declaration, including the section that says you are willing to undergo an additional Covid test upon arrival in France. A further test is not obligatory for arrivals from Ireland, it’s just a possibility.

If you are not fully vaccinated but have proof of recovery from Covid (a certificate of recovery dated more than 11 days and less than 6 months prior to the date of arrival), then you do not need to take a PCR or antigen test in the 24 hours before your departure. 

READ MORE How tourists and visitors in France can get a Covid test

Bear in mind that you must be fully vaccinated in France to use the Covid health pass – which grants access to a wide variety of venues like restaurants, markets and nightclubs. 

Traveling to Ireland from France

All travellers from France to Ireland over the age of 12 must present a negative antigen test result taken at least 48 hours before their arrival OR a negative PCR test result taken 72 hours before their arrival. This applies to vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

For people who are unvaccinated or who are not recently recovered from Covid (proof of recovery within the last 180 days), only the PCR test option will be accepted. Self-administered Covid tests are not accepted. 

All people travelling to Ireland must fill out this Passenger Locator Form prior to arrival. 

Similarly to France, Ireland has introduced rules that require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry to some ‘indoor hospitality’ venues – such as pubs and restaurants. The EU Digital Covid certificate, as found on the TousAntiCovid app, can be used for this purpose. 

Member comments

  1. Did I dream this or was there a recommendation on numbers for parties/ events in people’s homes made recently?

  2. Correction: Travel from France to Ireland: An antigen certified test WITHIN 48 hours before arrival in Ireland is required, NOT “an antigen test taken AT LEAST 48 hours before their arrival.” Particularly for those travelling by boat from distant parts of France (e.g. Nice is 1,000 kms from Cherbourg), this detail is important. An antigen test may have to be done at a pharmacy on the way to the ferry.

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HEALTH

France’s Covid-19 app to be ‘put to sleep’

France's Covid-tracker app, used for months for the all-important 'health pass' will be switched off today, health officials have confirmed.

Published: 30 June 2023 13:29 CEST
France’s Covid-19 app to be 'put to sleep'

Covid-19 screening in France reaches an important milestone on Friday, June 30th, 2023 – when the TousAntiCovid app is officially ‘put to sleep’.

The app, which was launched in June 2020 as France came out of its first lockdown of the pandemic and has undergone a number of iterations, including as a delivery device for the health pass, will be switched off. 

For most people, this anniversary will pass without mention. Few people have consulted the app in recent months, and it has sat dormant on many smartphones since France’s Covid-19 health pass requirement was suspended in March 2022.

Meanwhile, the Système d’Informations de DEPistage (SI-DEP) interface – which has been informing people about their test results since the Spring of 2020 – is also being shut down on June 30th, as per legal requirements.

The SI-DEP shutdown means that it will also be impossible to retrieve Covid test certificates issued before June 30th, should the need arise. All data held by the database will be “destroyed”, officials have said.

It has handled more than 320 million antigen and PCR tests since it was introduced.

This does not mean that testing for Covid-19 has stopped, or is now unnecessary. As reported recently, more than 1,000 deaths a week in Europe are still caused by the virus.

The shutdown of the national information system does not mean that people in France cannot still book an appointment for an antigen test at a pharmacy, or a PCR test at a laboratory. But the number of people going for testing is declining rapidly. In recent days, according to Le Parisien, just 15,000 people in France took a Covid test – the lowest number, it said, since the pandemic started.

Reimbursement rules for testing changed on March 1st, with only certain categories of people – minors, those aged 65 and over, or immunosuppressed patients – covered for the entire cost of testing.

From Friday, only PCR test results will be transmitted to authorities for data purposes, meaning pharmacists that only offer antigen testing will be locked out of the online interface to record test results.

The reason for the shift in priorities is to maintain “minimal epidemiological surveillance”, the Ministry of Health has reportedly told scientists.

As a result test certificates, showing a positive or negative result, will no longer be issued from July 1st. Since February 1st, anyone taking a test has had to give consent to share their data in order to obtain a certificate. 

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