James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Reid personally as I have been following his Twitter during the pandemic and it has been very informative, and I thank all of his team right down to local level. The HSE staff in Kildare I have been dealing with have been very professional and committed. They have made sacrifices themselves and have been very much on top of all this. I represent Kildare, which is in lockdown again. It is effectively the third lockdown because we had the original lockdown like everybody else, a second lockdown and then a third, unlike other counties. Would it be reasonable to deduce that Kildare has the highest rate of transmission or incidence per 100,000 of population in the country? It seems to be the most acute hub of incidence right now according to the advice and the fact that we are under lockdown again. In that context it is reasonable that every effort be made to ramp up testing, to make it available at all corners and to remove any barriers to doing so. I was made aware recently of an issue arising if a suspect case presents out of hours in Kildare. A constituent of mine presented last Saturday to the only out of hours health service available in Kildare, which is KDOC. Unless patients have a medical card, they have to pay a €50 consultation fee. I confirmed with the Minister for Health on Saturday that the HSE's position is that Covid testing is free of charge. No barriers should be put in front of anybody presenting for a test. The principle applies across the country but it is particularly acute when Kildare is the only county in a third period of lockdown and appears to be the epicentre of Covid in Ireland. I have had extensive conversations with KDOC's management team and they advised me they are aware of the HSE guidance. My understanding is that there is an operational agreement yet to be entered into or signed off on. Time is not a luxury that we can enjoy here. We are into our third lockdown and have ten days. The clock is ticking to see if we can escape from that. We do not know how many more cases are transmitting or about to be identified in the community.

If people are being turned away from test centres because there is a €50 charge for the test and they cannot afford it, that is not good enough. I can see both sides of the story but heads need to be banged together to get this matter resolved. I hope Mr. Reid can advise us of good news on the matter this morning.