Dáil debates

Thursday, 12 November 2020

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:20 pm

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

Some modelling has been done on the possibility of a third wave in January and February, which has been published by NPHET or Professor Nolan. I do not know to what extent international travel feeds into that modelling. I will have to check that. In terms of the European regulation that we have adopted and signed up to, that does not require a double test. It falls within the discretion of member states to decide how to proceed in this regard. NPHET's advice to us is that a double test would be better which, of course, is the case because any laboratory test creates false negatives. If there is a double test, it is less likely there will be two false negatives. This is the Swiss cheese analogy that people tend to use.

In terms of capacity, the position is that people coming in from the green regions will not have to undergo tests so their travelling here should not have any implications for contact tracing. People coming in from amber regions should have a negative test before getting on the plane and this, too, should not have any implications for contact tracing. Where implications might arise is people coming in from red-----

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