Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

My opinion is we will be using antigen in a whole variety of occupations. It will not be used, to make it clear to Deputy Crowe, from 19 July. That will be PCR testing. That does not rule out the use of antigen testing for both travel and domestic arrangements in the future. To do that in travel, it would have to be tested. We will be working with the airlines and others, including NPHET, to look at suitable approaches so we can start introducing it. Before that happens, I expect it to have more widespread application domestically in a number of different ways. That will also help improve the accuracy or the way in which it is used, which will overcome some of the concerns NPHET has. From the start and from the briefing I got from Professor Ferguson, I thought his argument was that this is a screening tool. It is not in any way foolproof in terms of whether someone has the virus but it shows to a high degree of accuracy whether a person is infectious at a point in time. It has a potential role and I very much support it and welcome Professor Ferguson's report in that regard. I will continue to push with Government for its application in as many appropriate areas as possible.