A Dutch engineer who was not aware he would need to enter quarantine when arriving in Ireland has been confined to a hotel in Dubin and is unable to leave, the Irish Times reported.

The paper says Johannes Heemskerk has been in The Red Cow Hotel in Dublin since flying from Amsterdam to Ireland last Sunday. He was heading for Ireland to repair fridges for a storage company.

Heemskerk actually lives six kilometres over the border in Belgium, which is one of five EU countries from which travellers must go into hotel quarantine in Ireland.

‘I understand the rules are the rules, but they are so different here in Ireland,’ Heemskerk told the Irish Times. ‘It was really a mistake. I have a Dutch passport and I drive over the border to Holland every day.’

Heemskerk had been due to spend five days in Ireland and would have returned home on Friday, if he had not been forced to go into quarantine. He has also tested twice for coronavirus, once before flying and once during quarantine period.

Four appeals to leave the hotel, including one on ‘humanitarian grounds’ have been rejected. The company he was coming to work for told the paper that its priority now is to get Heemskerk home. ‘We will figure out another way to fix the equipment,’ a spokesman told the paper.

European Union citizens living in Ireland have been campaigning to have the tough hotel quarantine rules, which cost some €2,000, lifted, arguing that the current travel restrictions in Ireland go completely against the right to move freely within the European Union, for EU citizens.