NEW FIGURES FROM the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have shown an “unprecedented collapse” in the number of people who travelled to Ireland last month.

Data for April shows that there were just 16,100 arrivals and 17,800 departures to and from Ireland last month, as countries across the globe experienced lockdown measures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The figures compare with monthly travel of more than 1.7 million in each direction during the same month last year, an annual fall of 99%.

Of the 16,100 people who arrived in Ireland last month, 12,100 (75.2%) arrived by air and 4,000 (24.8%) arrived by sea.

Of those who left Ireland, 12,800 (72.2%) departed by air and 4,900 (27.8%) departed by sea.

The majority of people who travelled overseas to Ireland came from the UK (9,300), the Netherlands (1,200) and the United States (1,100).

The most regular departure destinations were the UK (8,800), the Netherlands (2,000) and France (1,400).

A total of 3,101,300 people arrived in Ireland from overseas and 3,063,100 people have departed so far this year. These figures represent decreases of 44.4% and 45.1% respectively compared to the same period in 2019.