Ms Niamh O'Beirne:

I thank the Deputy. The topic most on our minds at the moment is the importance of staying ahead of the virus. Overall, in terms of testing and tracing we are looking to gain a workforce of 3,000 or 4,000 between swabbing, laboratories and contact tracing. As part of that, we have to build up the swabbing sites of which there are 37 at the moment.

In addition, we are working with the National Ambulance Service to build mobile sites that move at a fast pace and open up quickly. They can do 300 or 400 tests at one time. We have definitely learnt about the importance of pop-up sites. We can open sites really quickly when there is particular demand in a small area. That is something we will have a permanent infrastructure around and a response to in terms of adding additional swabbing capacity where we need to.