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

On antibody testing, the latest I have heard, and I might not be fully up to date on all these things, is that HIQA and NPHET are not satisfied that any of the tests available are currently accurate enough to use. There are too many false positives and false negatives, and HIQA has published a health technology assessment on that. Once we have antibody tests that are accurate, they could be used. Approval has been given for a zero prevalence survey using antibody tests but that is very different. It will not give an individual result from an individual test of an individual patient. It will be a survey of the extent to which there is exposure and immunity within society.

On the reference group question, I know that other countries have done this and it is under consideration. It may be something the next Government decides to do rather than this one, but it has been proposed by others. Deputy Micheál Martin has proposed a similar approach to that, as has Deputy Shortall. We have our plan, it is working and we are sticking to it, but that is not to say that at a point in the future, some form of expert group or reference group that is multidisciplinary could be established to give advice to the Government in addition to advice from NPHET.

There are thousands of section 38 and section 39 organisations and they are all in different circumstances. Some have got additional funding, such as the hospices. Some are section 38 organisations whereas others are section 39. It depends on the individual organisation and its individual financial position.

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