Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The HSE deserves considerable credit for ramping up a very significant testing and tracing capacity, with up to 150,000 tests per week now. I recall people articulating loudly not so long ago for 100,000 tests per week. I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that 137,000 were conducted last week. However, the Deputy is correct in saying there has been a resistance from the clinical and public health perspective to antigen testing. It is fair to say that those in clinical and public health see PCR testing as the gold standard. They are applying it and using it now. NPHET has advised that it can be used in outbreak settings, in hospitals or in nursing home settings. There has been a reluctance to override the clinical and public health advice on antigen testing to date. The view is that its optimal use now is in the context of outbreaks.

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