Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Interestingly, I offered to speak to the Minister about it but I have not heard back from him since. It is an open invitation. I have no problem referring people who provide it. There are a number of variations of the device. As a country, we need to consider it. If it is good enough for other jurisdictions, we should look at it as well, particularly as winter approaches. I am not saying it is fool-safe or perfect but it is a contribution, particularly in terms of airport testing. We will have to review airport testing as well.

The big issue is the resourcing of our medical scientists. We need to ensure that we have enough of them and to do whatever we can to push more of them into this area. We also need to ensure there is adequate laboratory space to enable us to do what we need to do. We need to prioritise those who need testing, be that through self-referral or a more streamlined referral system and tally that with this type of population general testing around the country, particularly at airports, and then we will have a more robust regime. I would 100% support a proposal in that next over the next few weeks or months.

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