Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Impact on Aviation

Mr. Ray Gray:

Yes, absolutely. As I said earlier, decisions about testing are matters for the health and State authorities. We are suggesting that testing may have a part to play in that. The primary focus of our recommendations to the committee this morning was around testing for arriving passengers. If there is to be testing of departing passengers, those sorts of conditions will be set by the health authorities. Those tests may have to be complied with in order to travel, as they currently are for persons travelling to the Middle East, for example. Right now, there is not an effective or reliable source to put that in place and that is something we are anxious to see a greater possibility of. However on the airport campus, it simply will not be possible to test thousands of people at a point in time. Testing has an important part to play. It is important that we develop this as a technique. We can help manage risk because the thing that needs to be focused on is that it is about managing risk. It is about a series of measures that can reduce that risk and can give confidence to the travelling public. It is health authorities and governments which will determine whether people can travel, confidence will determine whether people will travel.

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