Tráthnóna inné, dhearbhaigh Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte do mo chomhghleacaí as Tiobraid Árann, an Teachta Martin Browne, go raibh stad láithreach curtha le scrúduithe do Covid-19 sna monarchana feola. Sílim go bhfuil sé seo dochreidte, gan chiall agus gearr-radharcach. Tá a fhios againn gurbh iad na clusters sna monarchana seo an chúis ba mhó leis na srianta a cuireadh i bhfeidhm i gcontaetha Chill Dara, Laoise agus Uíbh Fhailí an mhí seo caite.

Yesterday evening, the HSE confirmed to my colleague from Tipperary, an Teachta Martin Browne, that testing for Covid-19 in meat factories had been halted since Tuesday. That is incredibly reckless. It is a short-sighted move that needs to be rectified. Meat factories have been the sites of numerous clusters of infection and were one of the main reasons for the regional lockdowns in counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly a few weeks ago. We all know the difficulties that the lockdown caused for businesses, communities and residents of those counties.

There are currently at least four clusters associated with meat factories around the State. Last week, two workers in meat processing plants in Tipperary tested positive for Covid-19. Mass testing of all workers was set to begin yesterday, but instead workers at the factory received a text message informing them that the HSE had ceased Covid-19 testing with immediate effect. No other private industry has had more of an impact on Covid-19 cases than the meat and food processing sector. That is without doubt. Meat factory workers are particularly vulnerable due to the poor working conditions in those factories. Outbreaks in factories lead to increased transmission and risk in the communities where these factories are located and these workers live. That is an obvious fact.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, was on the radio yesterday morning, announcing that serial testing in meat plants had commenced and that the first round would be completed by the end of the week. We now know that these tests had already been cancelled. You could not make this up.

It is more baffling that the Minister for Health answered questions in the Dáil yesterday evening and did not mention this issue even though Deputy Carthy raised the issue of the meat plants with him directly. It would be helpful if the Tánaiste could clear this up for us. Who made this decision? Will the Tánaiste tell us whether the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine was aware of this decision when it was made on Tuesday? Was the Minister for Health aware of it? Did he know about it before he spoke in the Dáil yesterday?

We are told, time and again, that there is capacity for 100,000 tests per week. We know that we are not using all of that capacity, so why was this decision taken? That is the real issue at the heart of all of this. The lack of testing is a major problem and getting it right is critical for how we all deal with Covid-19. The Tánaiste knows that the Government has a responsibility to protect the health of communities when it comes to meat plants and these communities and workers deserve better.

Can the Tánaiste answer some simple questions? When was the decision taken? Were the two Ministers aware of the decision? Given that we are not using the full capacity that is available, if capacity for 100,000 tests per week is indeed available, why was a decision taken to not test meat plant workers as scheduled?

I thank the Deputy for asking this important question and I will do my best to clarify the situation. The HSE commenced a programme of serial testing in meat and food production plants on 21 August. Since then, 13,000 tests have been carried out and 34 cases were detected. The testing of staff at meat and food processing plants has not been cancelled, it has been rescheduled for next week. That decision was made by the HSE. I do not know at what point the various Ministers were informed.

The HSE carries out surveillance testing every few weeks in places where there is a high risk of an outbreak, such as nursing homes, direct provision centres and meat and food processing plants. The HSE is essentially hunting for the virus and testing people who have no symptoms. The number of positive tests that have come back is very small.

At times of high demand, when many patients with symptoms need to be tested, those people have to be prioritised and that is what has happened in the past couple of days. There has been a surge in demand for tests from people with symptoms who must be prioritised. Of course, if somebody in a nursing home, meat plant or direct provision accommodation centre has symptoms, they are also prioritised for obvious reasons.

As we are speaking about Covid-19, I want to take the opportunity to welcome the statement made by the Sinn Féin vice president, Michelle O'Neill, expressing her regret for the Bobby Storey funeral and the events around it. In her own words, it undermined public health messaging in the North. It is late but I think it is timely because it comes at a time when we head into the winter, when Covid instance rates are much higher in Northern Ireland than Ireland and when Belfast has a higher incidence than any other city in Ireland. While I can understand people paying their respects in the streets, I cannot understand or accept the political rally in Milltown Cemetery. This was no graveside oration; Mr. Storey was cremated on the other side of town. It was a political rally in the middle of a pandemic, organised by Sinn Féin and other republicans. Deputy Doherty spoke at that rally and I want to know now if he will apologise for that and whether he will be held to account for it. We have seen a dozen resignations as a result of "golfgate" in the past few weeks. Will anyone in Sinn Féin be resigning as a consequence of this? Does the Deputy believe that Sinn Féin republicans are some sort of higher caste who do not have to obey the same laws as anyone else and follow public health guidance?

I want to go to the core of the issue. Workers in meat plants were supposed to be tested yesterday. A decision was taken at a national level to postpone those tests and they will not be carried out until next week. We know that at least 1,500 Covid cases have been associated with meat plants. We know that the meat plants and the outbreaks within them were the primary cause of the entire lockdown of three counties. Can the Tánaiste confirm that we currently have the capacity to test 100,000 people per week? Of course, people with symptoms should be tested and prioritised but, as the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, outlined in the Dáil yesterday, almost 70,000 tests were completed last week as serial testing continues in nursing homes, direct provision centres and meat processing plants. That means there should be a capacity for nearly 30,000 tests to be carried out in any given week. Why was the decision taken to cancel tests that were supposed to happen in meat factories yesterday and today, given that we know the serious impact that an outbreak in those factories can have on the economy, people and citizens of different counties? Why is a different approach taken to meat plants? There is no transparency. I wonder would the tests in the meat plants be commencing next week if Deputies Martin Browne and Carthy had not broken this story yesterday.

I hope the Deputy will respond to the questions I have asked later in the day. We will be happy to make time for that, or for a debate on the matter.

Testing demand nearly trebled on Monday compared to last week, with a requirement for over 13,000 tests in the community and 3,000 hospital tests, a total of 16,000 in one day. Capacity is approximately 15,000 per day. While demand has fallen since Monday, it remains quite high and the HSE is going to go ahead with the planned meat plant testing next week.

I am informed that we have capacity for approximately 100,000 tests per week, or 15,000 tests per day. The highest that has been done so far is 70,000 in a week and it is something that we will discuss at the Covid Cabinet sub-committee this afternoon.

It is important to point out that, since the beginning of the pandemic, Ireland has done a lot of testing. We have perhaps not done as much as countries such as Singapore or Luxembourg, but we have done much more than many other countries per head of population. We have done more than New Zealand, Germany, Canada, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, to name just a few. We are building capacity all the time.