Dr. Tomás Ryan:

Even with the standard PCR testing technology, it is possible to use that in a travel framework. Ideally, one has people being tested two or three days before they travel from their country of origin and being asked to self-isolate in that time. Being tested for arrival would mean waiting for hours at the airport, as is being done in Vienna, Iceland and other places, then self-isolating for a few days on arrival, then being tested again. That would be a robust way to screen people. It is logistically cumbersome but my view is that it is a worthwhile investment. Whatever amount of money we spend on testing is a worthwhile investment in the current climate.

We need to more actively pursue investment in rapid testing technologies in Ireland. HIQA does an excellent job but we need a dedicated scientific advisory team to look at this in a much more aggressive way. Rapid testing, including antigen testing and loop-mediated isothermal amplification, LAMP, based testing, will provide a much more efficient way to deal with travel screening in the future.