“Ireland does not belong to the Schengen Area and is not subject to the free movement obligations that bind the member countries of the Schengen Area and the list that Ireland has submitted [of countries whose travellers are exempt from quarantine upon arrival in Ireland] is very restrictive”, said Augusto Santos Silva.

The Dublin Government on 22 July published a ‘green list’ of 13 countries whose travellers are exempt from quarantine when they arrive in Ireland and which excludes countries like Portugal, Spain, France and neighbouring United Kingdom.

Excluded from the Irish list was also the United States, whose visitors must continue to restrict movement when arriving at any port or airport on the island with a 14-day self-isolation period.

“We work with the Irish authorities at a political and technical level. The Irish authorities have all the information related to the pandemic in Portugal”, he said.

According to Augusto Santos Silva, the two countries present indicators that are not very different from each other and are very similar in terms of new cases, with Portugal having more favourable results in terms of the number of deaths.

“Let’s hope that Ireland can evolve in a less restrictive sense and that its list includes other countries,” he said.

The minister said that diplomacy will continue, although he does not equate the case of Ireland with other member countries of the Schengen Area.

And he added: “Ireland, being a member of the European Union, is included in the general orientation that our Home Affairs Ministers approved in June of the general opening of the EU’s internal borders, as a step prior to the opening of the external borders”.

“Portugal did this and still does not understand how other European countries do not do the same,” he declared.

Augusto Santos Silva underlined that “all measures to fight the spread of the virus” - such as wearing masks, social distancing and hygiene measures – have been applied “without sacrificing freedom of movement”.

“None of this has to do with closing borders,” he concluded.

At the time of going to press, the death toll from the Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland stood at 1,753 and 36 new infections have been detected since 21 July.