Dubai returnee Emma Kelly has been released from hotel quarantine after bringing a case in Ireland's High Court. Alamy
Dubai returnee Emma Kelly has been released from hotel quarantine after bringing a case in Ireland's High Court. Alamy
Dubai returnee Emma Kelly has been released from hotel quarantine after bringing a case in Ireland's High Court. Alamy
Dubai returnee Emma Kelly has been released from hotel quarantine after bringing a case in Ireland's High Court. Alamy

Dubai returnee Emma Kelly released from Irish quarantine after legal challenge


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A woman who returned from Dubai to Ireland was released from hotel quarantine after launching legal action.

Emma Kelly had been in quarantine since arriving in Dublin from the UAE on April 3 to care for her mother while her father underwent surgery for cancer.

Ms Kelly, who is fully inoculated against Covid-19 with AstraZeneca's vaccine, could legally have been released on Monday, but she said hotel staff failed to provide a Covid-19 test that would have allowed it.

Her lawyers sought a special sitting of the High Court to secure her release.

The court ordered that Ms Kelly be tested for Covid-19, with an expedited analysis of her swab. She was released on Tuesday evening after the result was negative.

But the case is still before the court, with a judge ordering an inquiry into the circumstances of her detention. It will be heard on Wednesday.

Ms Kelly is one of five people challenging the legality of Ireland's hotel quarantine system.

Ireland suspended bookings for the system for four days while it works to increase the availability of rooms.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said airlines would be asked to check whether passengers had a pre-booked place before allowing them to board flights.

"The hotel quarantine system has only been in place for 18 days, believe it or not. We have gone from 33 countries up to, I think, 71 countries now. On a precautionary basis the department has paused the bookings to make sure we have the capacity," he told broadcaster RTE.

“There is still a high level of walk-ins, which shouldn’t be happening.

"There is significant additional capacity coming in on Monday. We're going up from about 650 rooms to about 960. And then the following Monday again a lot more coming online, we will be above 1,300."

On Tuesday, the government said it was considering allowing fully vaccinated passengers to quarantine at home.

Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.

The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.

The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.

The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.