Location of HSE pilot rapid antigen testing centre in Mayo announced

Mayo TD Alan Dillon has welcomed confirmation that the MSLETB Training Centre in Ballina is to be site for a new pilot antigen testing by the HSE.

He said: “A new pilot process has been established to help evaluate the use of rapid antigen diagnostic tests (RADT) in identifying COVID-19 the further and higher education sector. I am delighted to see it being set up in Mayo.”

The HSE, working with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, integration and Youth, are undertaking this pilot process to learn more about how the tests might be used more widely in third-level settings.

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said: “I am really pleased further education settings will form part of the HSE pilot on rapid testing. We have so much to learn about rapid testing, how effective the tests can be and whether they should be used on a larger scale.

“We have a pilot underway in four higher education settings already and today’s announcement will see the HSE pilot commence in five further education settings.

"None of this work can or will replace the public health advice but it can be an additional weapon in our fight against Covid-19 and will help us with our plans for a safe and sustainable re-opening of campuses and society.”

Deputy Dillon added: “Universities have been the site of some previous innovations in Covid-19 testing while managing outbreaks of the virus in their student community, especially in accommodation settings.

"Covid-19 in students tends to be lower, but there are still risks to their health, and to their parents who are closer in age to the older groups at risk of severe illness, again these test will not replace the public health advice but an additional tool to help our fight against this virus."