Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. A shuttle service or a location in the city as well would make a huge difference. You cannot have people crossing a motorway or dual carriageway. It is unsafe. In this modern age, we cannot have it. Vaccination is going well but we want it to be an absolute success.

I want to refer to another issue. We had Professor Mark Ferguson in before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks yesterday. Professor Ferguson was appointed by the Government to set up and chair a Covid expert group to look at rapid testing. We in the committee are very much looking at the aviation sector. With the vaccination programme going at pace, Professor Ferguson, whose expert group's report has been adopted by Government, is of the view that rapid antigen testing has a key role to play in the full restoration of air travel. Professor Ferguson is looking for the roll-out of a pilot programme of rapid antigen testing, and the expert group has made this recommendation in its report. That should be done.

The committee has written to the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Health seeking the establishment with immediate effect of a pilot programme for rapid antigen testing. Take a route from Ireland to the UK. The UK has started doing a pilot programme of its own. We can tap into the expertise they have to date. Furthermore, we have the digital green certificate coming on stream at the end of June. It would make a huge impact if we could be ready to look at the possibility of rolling out rapid antigen testing as one of the elements in terms of Covid safety to ensure people may not have to quarantine when they come to Ireland. Will the Minister take on board the recommendation of Professor Ferguson and his expert group and of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks to establish a pilot scheme of rapid antigen testing for air travel on a route from Ireland to the UK? It would probably take four weeks because we need to have that ICT structure in place prior to the digital green certificate coming in place at the end of June.

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