Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Bassato for his assistance to us. As he may be gathering from the various contributions, there is a deep frustration in this country, particularly within the aviation sector, at what is perceived as a failure by the Department of Transport to come forward with credible plans to assist in reopening our skies and aviation sector, recognising it plays such an important role in our tourism and hospitality sector, as it does in Mr. Bassato's country, so his intervention is welcome.

We do not see a credible plan coming forward. We have confidence in the European Commission, particularly in the area of the DGC, which I do not doubt will come into play by the end of June. We have no confidence a section of this Government will have a plan in place to correspond to it and to give us a chance to re-establish our vital connectivity links with other parts of Europe and the US.

There seems to be hesitancy and resistance based on concerns around antigen testing. Mr. Bassato referred to 48-hour PCR or antigen testing being done in the Italian trial on the US side. What percentage of those tests were PCR and what percentage were antigen? If Mr. Bassato does not have that, does he have any more data on testing done on the Italian side prior to those departures to the US, if that was a reciprocal arrangement?

We need to convince some people in this country of the reliability of antigen testing in a controlled environment where the tests are carried out by professionals at either end. We also want to try to give confidence around the likelihood, or otherwise, of picking up the virus while in the airport or on aircraft.

The evidence Mr. Bassato has put forward makes it clear the likelihood of transmission of the virus while in the airport and on aircraft is infinitesimal. That is important. It would be more helpful, though, if we knew the percentage of antigen versus PCR testing at the primary point, or on the US side, based on the evidence he has given.