Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation Dail Éireann — 2021-01-28 ============================================================ Marc Ó Cathasaigh (GP), Waterford My question is on the rapid antigen testing and it follows on from a similar question from Deputy McNamara earlier. This morning we saw the roll-out of two rapid antigen testing centres to cater for the needs of our hauliers. There is also mounting scientific evidence of the efficacy of such a test. I am not proposing that it would be a replacement for the PCR test but it certainly should be considered as a complementary tool. It is particularly useful for identifying the period or phase during which a person is infectious. In that context, it is especially suited for those working in congregated settings, for example. It is quick, cheap and painless and it has its place as a tool in our fight against this virus. Will the Tánaiste outline briefly the plans in place to deploy rapid antigen testing as part of our Covid response? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-01-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:00+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-01-28