by Passengers arriving into the Republic of Ireland from 16 additional countries are now subject to mandatory hotel quarantine with limited exemptions.
As of 4am the list of Category 2 countries includes the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Turkey and Italy.
The Department of Health said that only people who had already pre-booked quarantine rooms should be allowed on these flights.
A spokesman for Dublin Airport said while routes from some countries that have been added to the Government’s list today have been busier since the announcement, routes from other countries added to the list have been quieter.
He said flights arriving at Dublin Airport yesterday were more than 60% empty.
It is understood that of the five flights arriving into Dublin from the US between 5am and 9am this morning, around 12 people are entering the country, with an even smaller number transiting to other countries.
One flight had no passengers on board.
There are two flights due in from Paris, two from the Middle East and one from Turkey, where arrivals will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantine.
All passengers coming from the 16 additional countries will be required to check into designated hotels for up to 12 nights at a cost of almost €2,000 per person.
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Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the decision was made “following public health advice relating to variants of concern with Covid-19”.
It is understood that arrangements for elite and high performing athletes to avoid mandatory hotel quarantine could be announced today.
But less than three weeks after it was set up, the Government’s mandatory quarantine system has had to pause bookings as it ran out of hotel capacity .
The Department of Health said this was due to a problem with “walk-ins” or people who simply turn up rather than having booked online before departure.
The Government has said 300 additional rooms will become available next Monday.
Additional reporting Samantha Libreri
