Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 19 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Online Content Moderation and Reactivation of Economy: Discussion

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are encouraging workplaces to adopt antigen testing and many workplaces are doing so, such as in retail, construction and manufacturing. Many employers are using it. We issued new guidance on the issue on Friday last to give employers the strength of a Government document, with the harp on it, that gives them guidance on what or what not to do. We always say it should be voluntary and staff should not be required to take an antigen test. It should be done right, using tests approved by the European Commission in particular, and it should be seen only as an additional health and safety measure, not a substitute for getting a PCR test if a person has symptoms. Similarly, it is not a substitute for social distancing, mask-wearing or any of those measures.

I genuinely encourage employers to take this up because if it is viewed as an additional health and safety measure, it will pick up some cases that might otherwise have been missed, and had those cases not been picked up, they might have caused an outbreak. It is in employers' interest to have antigen testing in their workplaces. They can offset it as a business expense against tax and it is not a benefit-in-kind for their employees, so they cannot be taxed on it. It is not a health benefit in that sense but rather a health and safety measure. I re-emphasise that if somebody has symptoms, he or she needs to self-isolate and get a PCR test. Antigen tests are not a substitute for that.

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