Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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613. To ask the Minister for Health the documentation needed to guarantee exemption from mandatory hotel quarantine on the basis of travel for a medical appointment. [25849/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Mandatory hotel quarantine has been introduced as one element of Ireland’s public health measures to combat the transmission of COVID-19 variants of concern.

The Health Act 1947, as amended, provides that all persons arriving in Ireland from a designated state, or having travelled through a designated state in the previous 14 days, are required to undergo mandatory quarantine in a designated facility unless they are an exempted traveller under the Act. All applicable travellers must reserve and pay for a place in mandatory hotel quarantine.

The Act identifies those who are exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine, and a full list of exemptions can be accessed on www.gov.ie/quarantine.  

With effect from 8th May, if a person has travelled abroad for unavoidable, imperative and time-sensitive medical reasons they will not be required to undergo mandatory hotel quarantine on their return to Ireland.  They will be required to present a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner or from a person holding an equivalent qualification outside the State to the effect that they had an unavoidable, imperative and time-sensitive reason for so travelling. In addition, any carer or dependent travelling with this person will also be exempted from the requirement to undergo mandatory hotel quarantine.

As of 17th April, passengers who are 'fully vaccinated' and have the documents to confirm this are no longer required to complete mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival in Ireland. Dependents, including children, will also be exempted from the requirement to complete mandatory hotel quarantine in this instance. Please note that the 4 EMA approved vaccines currently accepted have specific definitions for when a person would be considered 'fully vaccinated'.

Passengers who are fully vaccinated and exempt from hotel quarantine are still subject to other travel restrictions, such as the need to provide a negative pre-departure PCR test and complete a period of self-quarantine at home or wherever specified in their passenger locator form.

The provisions of the Act allow for travellers to request a review of decisions relating to their quarantine in a designated facility; however, this can only be undertaken once quarantine has begun.

It is important to note that the list of designated states will be subject to change at short notice and passengers are required to check the list before travelling to Ireland, to be sure of their obligations.

Neither I as Minister for Health nor my Department have any role in decisions relating to whether individual persons must enter mandatory quarantine or whether individual persons are exempted travellers. All such decisions are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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614. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department or another Department is funding antigen tests for use by private industries; if so, the industries that have received funding for such tests; the level of funding provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25854/21]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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616. To ask the Minister for Health the position on the use of antigen tests; his views on comments made by some members of NPHET in relation to the sale and use of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25858/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 614 and 616 together.

Considerable work has been undertaken to date to evaluate the potential use of rapid antigen detection tests (RADTs) in an Irish context and this will continue on an ongoing basis. In the health sector, the HSE has deployed rapid antigen tests for use for specific indications in the acute hospital setting, and as part of the response to outbreaks in the community setting, supported by appropriate clinical governance and operational arrangements. This includes updating the case definition for SARS-CoV-2 to accept notification of positive results from rapid antigen tests undertaken in the public health system and reporting of such cases to the COVID Care tracker and to the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) information system developed to manage the surveillance and control of infectious diseases in Ireland.

Operational planning is also underway in the HSE in relation to the piloting of testing using RADTs in education and childcare settings. This includes development of guidance documentation, a training programme and other related templates and resources to support the testing pathway for educational facilities. The antigen assay to use for the pilot has been selected and stakeholder engagement is ongoing. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, supported by the HSE, commenced a rapid antigen testing pilot scheme on the 14th June in NUI Galway, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and University College Cork.

The HSE’s Antigen Validation Project Team has been working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to supply and implement antigen testing in food processing facilities to supplement the PCR serial testing programme that has been in operation since 21 August 2020. These tests are being carried out under clinical governance arrangements put in place by the Department of Agriculture.

The HSE has also recently published the report of the Antigen Test Validation Project which validated a number of rapid antigen detection tests (ADTS) intended for testing samples for SARS-CoV-2 antigen. The products evaluated were chosen as those expected to represent the best available products based on the manufacturers claims and other available evidence.

The “Report of the COVID-19 Rapid Testing Group” which was chaired at my request by the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Mark Ferguson, and published on 1 April 2021, made a number of recommendations for sectors outside the health sector and these are a matter for the Ministers and Departments with responsibility for the sectors concerned. 

Rapid testing has a role to play as another valuable tool in Ireland’s battle against COVID-19; however, antigen testing, or other forms of rapid testing, will not replace the requirement for large scale PCR testing in this country which remains the gold standard diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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615. To ask the Minister for Health the opening dates for all vaccination centres by county; the number of vaccinations that have been delivered to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25857/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this Parliamentary Question relates to an operational issue, it is a matter for the HSE. However, members of the Oireachtas are advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems. The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services. Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.