Mr. Neil McGowan:

On any given day, there could be up to 2,000 people working in the airport. Not all those workers are in front-line roles, because many people work in areas such as management. To take the example of the airport search unit, there could be several hundred airport search unit officers on duty and the nature of their job means they have to come into very close contact with people. That is where we want to see the rapid testing system introduced.

We do not have costings but it is essential that such testing is put in place regardless of the cost because, ultimately, we are talking about the health and well-being of the staff who continued to work during the darkest days of the crisis to provide vital services to aviation. Employers in the sector were slow to introduce PPE, etc., as were employers across the economy. The question now is whether we afford not to introduce a rapid testing system, be it for staff or passengers, to try to assist with the opening of airports.