Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy and I agree with him that testing and tracing continues to be fundamental to our response to the pandemic. It is critical that we continue to monitor demand for testing to ensure that we can identify and contain the spread of the virus. The HSE are continuously monitoring the demand for testing and attendance rate at both regional and local level in order to ensure that Covid-19 testing is available on a regional basis. As I explained earlier, the HSE has the goal of ensuring that well in excess of 90% of the population has access to a centre within a 45-minute drive from their residence. As the Deputy is aware, the test centre located in Ardee fulfils that requirement.

The current very high demand means that testing is now operating at surge capacity and every effort is being made to ensure that resources are targeted to where they are most efficiently deployed to mitigate the impact of the virus across the entire population. I wish to reassure the House that the national testing policy, including the location of testing centres, is kept under continual review and the HSE continually evaluates the requirement of both pop-up and permanent testing centre response to the emerging demand. I am no expert in this area but there is a case to be made, in my opinion, for Drogheda as the largest town with a population of 50,000 to have a testing centre within walking distance of those 50,000 people. I will bring that opinion to the HSE.

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