Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the update. We appreciate the challenges but there is a significant backlog of tests. Some 105,000 is the latest figure I have in terms of numbers waiting for a test and at different stages of preparedness, in fairness. That is more than a year's backlog, based on last year. From what the Minister of State is saying, we hope to increase the number of tests that can be conducted. I hope it does not take that long. Can the Minister of State outline the timeline for the additional recruitment of the additional 40 extra testers? The RSA asked for those last October and we are one year on. When will they be recruited and how quickly will we see the backlog being addressed?

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