Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Most of my questions are for Ms O'Beirne as lead of contact tracing in the HSE. I have just come from the Committee on Transport and Communications Networks where we were briefed by Aer Lingus and Ryanair on the great need to move to rapid antigen testing at airports to get aeroplanes back in the sky and return aviation to some semblance of normality. They will be briefed by others in the aviation sector later. To date just over 250,000 people out of a population of 4.9 million in Ireland have been contact traced through the HSE's facilities.

Last year 38 million passengers came into Ireland. Aviation is operating at 90% below its previous level. If airports move to this model of testing, does Ireland have the public health capacity to facilitate that process or should it be done privately?