The Government's approach to antigen testing is just not good enough. In the midst of a fourth wave of the virus, after two years, the health service is clearly under enormous ongoing pressure. The Government tells us our best weapon to stem this surge is personal responsibility. People are trying. Most of them are doing their best. Why is the Government not giving them the basic tools they need to win this fight? There are too many missed opportunities and mixed messages to even mention. Why has the Government yet to roll out a system of subsidised antigen testing? We were all under the impression that the Cabinet would agree a scheme yesterday but, incredibly, it has been reported that the Cabinet did not even discuss Covid yesterday. The biggest threat the country is facing did not even get a mention. Last night, the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, said a scheme for subsidised antigen testing may not be brought to Cabinet until next week. The lack of urgency and failure to respond at speed to a rapidly escalating emergency is truly shocking, or at least it should be shocking.

The CEO of the Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, Darragh O'Loughlin, shed some light on this delay on "The Tonight Show" last night. He said it was very difficult for the IPU and the HSE to put a plan in place to roll out antigen testing when the Government has not made decisions about what it wants to do. Nobody knows when exactly or to what extent the Government will be subsidising the tests because, he said, that decision just has not been made. It is standard in any negotiation for each side to know what it wants and what it is negotiating for, yet according to Mr. O'Loughlin, the Government has not the foggiest idea what kind of subsidy scheme it wants to put in place.

This is a mess. We know antigen testing is not a silver bullet, but it is a vital tool in this fight, one that many people simply cannot afford to use currently. There is a strong case for antigen tests to be free. Will the Taoiseach stop the wrangling about subsidies and just get the tests out to people so they can use them as required and in line with public health advice? Why is the Irish Pharmacy Union in the dark about what the Government wants it to do? What kind of subsidy is the Government prepared to put in place? When will it be available and why is the Government so slow to respond when we all know that speed is of the essence?

First, I take the opportunity to thank the Irish people for responding to the current situation. All of the research is indicating, in particular in the past week or two following our announcement, that people are adjusting their behaviour significantly, which is ultimately the way to reduce the current pressure on hospitals and in regard to Covid-19. I watched what the WHO had to say in terms of the overarching issues. Every week, there is a magic bullet somewhere that people keep raising, but fundamentally we are dealing with a very transmissible Delta variant. We have reopened society and the economy to levels that we have not witnessed since the beginning of the pandemic. There is a winter seasonality issue as we move indoors all across Europe. The WHO is predicting well over 500,000 deaths across Europe. We want to protect life and limb. There is a range of other issues that Dr. Butler of the WHO has indicated. He said the booster campaign should focus on the immunocompromised, the elderly and those working in healthcare. We are making very good progress now on all of those key target groups – the over-80s, residents in long-term care facilities, the immunocompromised and the over-70s. There has been a dramatic administration of boosters to approximately 630,000 people.

Antigen testing is an important supplementary tool, which I believe in. It has been rolled out much more significantly in the past six months than in any previous period of the pandemic. As Deputy Shortall is aware, every close contact is given free antigen tests. They are sent out to people. Approximately 3,000 antigen tests are given out to close contacts per day. In the agriculture sector alone, 101,000 rapid antigen tests have been done. In higher education, close to 25,000 antigen tests have been used in a pilot project. The HSE has also run pilot projects in the early learning and care sector. There has been a much broader use of antigen testing generally and free antigen testing will start in schools on Monday for classroom pods where cases are identified. The expert group recognised that there should be a subsidised model. There has been advice from the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, who has advised caution on how that is rolled out.

The Deputy raised the Irish Pharmacy Union. It has an interest in the matter from a number of perspectives. We want to work with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible to get a distribution of antigen tests for routine testing and to reduce the costs for people. That must be in parallel with constant, consistent communication on the proper use of antigen testing.

The Taoiseach really did not shed much light in that response. Two weeks ago, the CMO advised that anybody engaging in so-called high-risk activities, most of which simply involve going out or meeting with other people, should do an antigen test twice a week. That was the most recent advice - that if people are out and about and mixing, they should do an antigen test twice a week. Antigen tests are very expensive. The Minister for Health said initially that it was his intention to make antigen tests available free of charge. The Taoiseach said more recently that there would be a subsidy scheme. When will the Government decide on the subsidy scheme? There is a real urgency about this. We are in the midst of an emergency. People want to use all the tools available to them. The Government must support them to do that. It is not only about personal responsibility, but also ensuring that the Government plays its part as well. When are we going to get a decision at least on subsidised antigen testing? Do we have to wait another week? Why can the Government not inform people this week?

First, I would say that, yes, we have to support people and we are, right across the board, in terms of Covid-19 and in terms of very significant expansion of the PCR testing, for example, with 210,000 tests in the last week.

And antigen testing.

It is all part of it. There is no silver bullet, and that is the point I am making.

I did not say there was.

There tends to be every week, and that is the point I would make. As I said, there has been a significant expansion of the use of antigen tests, given out freely by the Government. At the end of Friday, 19 November, for example, about 61,000 fully vaccinated asymptomatic close contacts were registered for the delivery of free antigen kits, 100,000 were used by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and so forth.

Will there be a scheme?

There is a scheme being developed but we have to get best value as well for the public purse. It is important that we just do not dive into it.

When will we hear?

That will happen and we will bring the details to the Deputy. It is our intention to do that, we have indicated that and we will do that.

When can people purchase-----

I would again say, standing back from this, that the fundamental variables that will really change this are actually reducing socialisation, which people are doing, and the booster campaign, which is going to have an impact in terms of the prevalence and continuation of the disease. That is the key approach to this, in my view.