Dr. Ronan Glynn:

A Deputy asked what our position was on antigen testing. It is very important we understand at any point in this conversation exactly what we are talking about. Are we talking about repeated serial testing? Are we talking about one-off testing? Are we talking about testing before events? Are we talking about symptomatic people versus asymptomatic people? Another way to look at it is what settings are they are appropriate in. For many months now we have said they can be used in red-light settings to pick up extra cases in outbreaks. Antigen tests have been available in this country for many months for that purpose led by public health specialists throughout the country where they deem it appropriate. The second is in high-risk settings where you want to do serial testing, for example, as we are doing in the meat-processing facilities. That has been in place and has been looked at on an ongoing basis over many months now. The third is in green light settings, specifically relating to asymptomatic people going into events and various other settings where people do not know they have the disease.

Rather than taking our word for it, it is worth looking at what the Infectious Diseases Society of America has said in recent weeks about this. It is very simple. It is one line. It simply says that for asymptomatic individuals with risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, a rapid PCR or laboratory-based test should be used rather than a single rapid antigen test. That is the current position of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. It is backed up by the Royal Statistical Society's report from the UK. It is backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, and by the WHO. It is not just us saying it. We have to be led by the evidence. In that regard, I might bring in Professors Cormican or Keogan. Ultimately, if we move away from speaking about the evidence, all we are doing is seeing who speaks better. It is eminence over evidence. It is opinion over fact. At all times, we have to be very careful as we go through this that we are led by what the evidence is telling us as opposed to what we want to be true.