Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is great to see that progress is being made. Hopefully, that will ensure that there is an on-site return of students in September. That is welcome. I welcome the fact that rapid antigen testing will just be part of that. I take what the Minister has said and I know that he has been a proponent of antigen testing for a long time. It is not a criticism of him specifically, but I believe that as a Government, we can do much more. The dogs on the street know the pros and cons of rapid antigen testing. It is not as accurate as PCR testing. We understand that. However, at the same time, looking at other developed countries, whether it is the UK or across Europe, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are subject to rapid testing every week. The use of it across the Continent is identifying hundreds of thousands of cases when people are at their most infectious state.

Given that come September the majority of adults here will be vaccinated, please God, in time for universities to return, if there is any delay in the vaccination roll-out it is most likely to affect third level students given that they are from younger age cohorts. Therefore, it is imperative that we roll out that rapid antigen testing as quickly as possible. While a pilot is welcome, we need to consider the roll-out of the testing in all third level institutions.

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