Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 June 2021
614. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked 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]
View answer616. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked 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]
View answerI 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.
