Danny Healy-Rae criticises testing and tracing, demands answers
Danny Healy-Rae spoke on 21 Oct 2020 about testing and tracing, arguing they are the cause of returning to level 5 and are harming other sick patients. He pressed for answers on procurement of testing kits, asked whether a member of NEFET was benefiting financially, and raised shortages of flu injections.
Core argument
Danny Healy-Rae said testing and tracing are the cause of the trouble that forced a return to level 5 and warned that many sick people with other illnesses are suffering because they will have to wait longer. He complained that doctors are out of flu injections, that large sums are being spent on the HSE, and criticised what he described as "loads of testing, no tracing."
Questions on procurement and NEFET
He asked directly whether a member of NEFET is involved in testing and whether they are benefiting financially. He also asked whether proper procurement laws are being adhered to in the securing of testing kits and demanded a clear answer to those questions.
Deputy Taoiseach response on antigen testing
The Deputy Taoiseach said the HECO had produced a major study and that antigen testing has been clinically validated in relation to PCR. He said the Oversight Committee requested a report next week on progress. He acknowledged policy disagreement among public health officials about antigen testing but indicated antigen could complement PCR testing once validation and outcomes are available.
Testing capacity and tracing pressures
The Deputy Taoiseach said 95% are meeting testing demand and 95% are within time limits, and that testing volume has increased to about 115,000 tests. He said the country was about the 11th highest in the world for testing and that community tracing came under enormous pressure recently. The HSE has said it can deal with up to 1,500 positive cases a day from next week.
Follow-up and closing of exchange
The Deputy Taoiseach invited specific cases mentioned by Deputies Moran and Buckley to be sent to him so he could follow up with the HSE. The exchange moved on and the transcript concludes with the speaker making an unclear sequence of remarks.
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You see, testing and tracing is the cause of the trouble we're in and having to go back to level 5 again. Many sick people with other illnesses are suffering now because they'll have to wait longer. Doctors are out of flu injections. You're throwing loads of money at the HSE. There are loads of testing, no tracing. And I'm asking you one very serious question because I've asked you twice before and no one has come back to me. Is there a member of NEFET involved in testing and are they benefiting financially from the testing? And the main question is, what company is proper procurement laws being adhered to in the securing of the testing kits? All right. Thank you, Deputy Taoiseach. There's a wide range of questions there. And you have only one minute. Yeah. First of all, on the antigen testing, which was the original question asked by Deputy Murakoo, the HECO had produced a major study on this. It's been clinically validated now in terms of... OK. I've asked a report again from the CMO through the oversight, but the Oversight Committee this morning asked, could they have a report next week in terms of how that is progressing? There has been a policy, be candid with you, there's been a policy issue here. Many people on our public health side have not been, in the early stages, convinced about the effectiveness or validity of antigen testing. Other countries have adopted it. I mentioned earlier in early exchanges that I'm interested in seeing, can antigen testing be an important complement to PCR testing and could it help in certain settings? So when they clinically validate this vis-a-vis the PCR and get outcomes, hopefully, more shortly than I'd been told earlier, that we could get some results on this and some clear trajectory of the direction of travel in terms of utilisation of antigen testing. And that applies to all the questions asked by others as well. In terms of specific cases asked by Deputy Moran and Deputy Buckley, I think if you could send those specifically to me, I can talk to the HSE about them. I said it this morning, 95% are meeting all testing demand and 95% are within the time limits in terms of the testing. The community tracing came under enormous pressure last week. We're now doing 115,000 tests, Deputy Healy Ray mentioned. We're about the 11th highest in the world now in terms of testing. We're testing a lot, far more than we tested before. Sorry? Not adequate tracing all the years. The tracing has... No, sorry, the community testing has improved dramatically as well. There's far more people working in community tracing now than there would have been. But when the community transmission gets to the level it gets, and it's very high in the last number of weeks, they've now said, the HSE are saying they can deal with 1500 positive cases a day from next week onwards. Thank you, we have to move on. My next question is that it is not a single question about the inside of the Pandora, not only one in total of weeks, but one of weeks, a single question about the DNA of the DNA that all the DNA of the DNA of the DNA of the DNA of the DNA, is a common sense of the DNA for the DNA of the DNA of the DNA in the DNA of the DNA of the DNA,
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