Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I think we all know there is a percentage chance of not just the antigen test being wrong but equally the PCR test being wrong. Surely it is better to have a slightly lower accuracy level but with an immediate result, which would be more effective at identifying infectious cases, and containment as opposed to what we are seeing, which is 3,000 cases a day for the want of being able to roll out PCR testing and then testing, tracing and isolating, as we should now, two years into this virus.

I hope the Government will take back the message that it needs to stop blaming, scapegoating, ostracising and discriminating against those who are not vaccinated. I do not think history will look back kindly on some of the distasteful comments made last week, but I hope we can put in place an armoury of supports for our vaccination programme. The fact is that we have the highest vaccination rates in Europe.

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