Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Mattie McGrath might come back to me. Apologies, I was taking notes on his final question, which was testing. There are good solutions out there. Rapid testing or antigen testing is being looked at. NPHET considered a paper on it today. They will now do so-called "validation" of it, that is, run it side-by-side with polymerase chain reaction, PCR, testing, which is the accepted gold standard. I would like to see it deployed but, obviously, we have to get the nod in terms of validation.

The HSE is working and engaging with companies. HIQA took a fairly broad look. The Department of transport is also looking at rapid testing in potential solutions for the airports because there will need to be a great deal of testing as we go on.

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