Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. It is good to see her in the House. I thank her for the opportunity to raise this issue, which many people have been contacting me about in recent days and weeks. Indeed, many of my colleagues across all parties have been raising it as well. I must stress the disbelief I felt when I heard that the Covid centre in Dundalk was to close and that Ardee was to become the testing hub for Louth. The county has the two largest towns in the country and neither town will have a Covid testing centre. This comes at a time when the electoral area of Dundalk-Carlingford has, unfortunately, one of the highest rates of Covid in the country, with a 14-day average of 132 per 100,000. The HSE has closed the testing centre in Muirhevnamor in Dundalk and the new testing centre will be located in St. Brigid's in Ardee, which is 25 km away. To me and most of the population in north Louth, this does not make any sense. According to a recent statement issued by the HSE, the move is due to an assessment of locations undertaken as part of the HSE test and trace operational model. Ardee was found to best meet the criteria for a testing centre in Louth as travel times from both Dundalk and Drogheda are less than 25 minutes. I feel the rationale the HSE is using is very narrow.

I absolutely accept the HSE's assertion that the hospital in Ardee will provide fit-for-purpose facilities and when fully operational will provide increased capacity. It will be a great service for the geographical area it practically serves. However, this new location will mean that people from Dundalk and north Louth will have to travel further if they are referred for testing. Someone living in Omeath in north County Louth will have to make a round trip of over 90 km. When we are supposed to be limiting our movements and contacts, it does not really make sense for the HSE to send people on a 90 km trip. A person from north Louth going to Ardee might need to take a toilet break, for example, and will use public facilities, possibly putting other people at risk. The people of Dundalk, who could have gone to a testing centre minutes from their homes, are now travelling with symptoms to Ardee, a town with low numbers of Covid cases and a 14-day average of 27.6 per 100,000. While the testing centre is welcome for Ardee and its surrounds, it is impractical for the citizens of north Louth, especially considering the high incidence of cases in north Louth.

It often seems that the Border region and Border towns are overlooked and this has to end. The Border has been there for 100 years now and it is time to remember these inhabitants. We have problems with many health services. It could take eight hours to get an ambulance to north Louth as well. This lack of thought regarding the location of the Border needs to change.