With the Covid pandemic at its height, and in the absence of an all-Ireland strategy to suppress the virus, Labour's Niall McNelis has called for Covid checkpoints near the border.
His call echoes that of party leader Alan Kelly, and is part of Labour's National Aggressive Suppression Strategy for Covid-19.
While the absence of an all-Ireland strategy can be seen as a result of DUP intransigence, many Brexit supporters in Northern Ireland will find it ironic that border checks of any variety - which had been anathema to people and politicians in the Republic during the Brexit negotiations - are now being called for.
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Cllr McNelis says the absence of an all-Ireland plan, and the Covid numbers in both the Republic and the North, warrant such an approach, which, in any case would only be temporary until the pandemic has finally passed. He also made the point that checks would not be on the border itself, but would be located 5km away.
'We need a new national approach to Covid-19. We can't go back to hopping up and down between levels'
"We need these checkpoints on as many routes as possible," he said. "The checks will identify why people are travelling and ensure non-essential journeys are reduced. Only checks will deter travel. It's impossible to say we can check every single road across the border but we should do our best so that people know if they travel they will likely be met."
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Labour's plan also calls for mandatory testing and quarantining for arriving passengers at Irish airports; and a survey to be carried out on all employers with more than 20 workers to determine if all who can work from home, are working from home, as required by Government guidelines.
"With Covid-19 cases so high, delayed vaccine rollout, our hospitals under severe pressure and Ireland facing months more of Level 5 lockdown, we need a new national approach to Covid-19," he said. "We can't go back to hopping up and down between levels."
