Halting of Covid tests in meat factories 'incredibly reckless', says Pearse Doherty

Leo Varadkar said the HSE had commenced a programme of serial testing in meat plants and food production plants on August 21.

Serial testing in meat factories which has been halted since Tuesday will resume next week according to the Tánaiste.

There has been widespread concern that testing in these premises was paused after testing capacity became strained due to a rise in cases in the community.

There are currently four clusters associated with meat plants in the State, and the outbreak of Covid-19 in these factories were the cause of a recent local lockdown in Kildare, Offaly and Laois.

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty told Leo Varadkar during Thursday's Leader's Questions that the halting of testing was "incredibly reckless" and "short-sighted".

"Meat factories have been the site of numerous clusters, and were one of the main reasons for the regional lockdowns," he said.

"Last week, workers in Tipperary tested positive for Covid-19, and mass testing of all workers was set to begin yesterday.

"Instead, workers at the factory received a text message informing them that the agency had ceased Covid-19 testing with immediate effect.

"No other private industry has more of an impact on Covid-19 than the meat and food processing sector, that is without doubt, and that is because meat factory workers are particularly vulnerable, due to the poor working conditions in those factories that leads to increased transmission and increased risk in the communities."

Mr Doherty noted that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said on radio on Wednesday that serial testing in meat plants had commenced.

"We now know that these tests had already been cancelled. You couldn't make this up," he said.

We were told by the Health Minister and the Agriculture Minister that serial testing was being ramped up.

Yet through a question by @Browne4Dail we learned that serial testing in meat factories was cancelled by the HSE. We expect answers on this matter today – @MattCarthy pic.twitter.com/KgCKFvBggX

— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) September 10, 2020

Leo Varadkar said the HSE had commenced a programme of serial testing in meat plants and food production plants on August 21.

"Since then 13,000 tests were carried out and 34 cases were detected," he said.

"The testing in food processing plants hasn't been cancelled it's been rescheduled for next week, a decision made by the HSE.

"They're testing people who have no symptoms and the number of positives that comes back is very small.

At times of high demand, when there are a lot of patients with symptoms who need to be tested, those patients have to be prioritised and that's what happened the last couple of days.

"Of course if somebody's in a nursing home, or a meat plant or a direct provision accommodation centre, show symptoms they're prioritised too."

Mr Varadkar added in his response that he welcomed Sinn Féin's vice president Michelle O'Neill's expression of regrets for attending (republican leader) Bobby Storey's funeral.

"It's late. But I think it's timely," he said.

"When Belfast has a higher incidence than any other city in Ireland.

"There was a political rally in the middle of a pandemic organised by Sinn Féin and other Republicans."

Mr Varadkar asked Mr Doherty if would be held accountable for attending the funeral.

Mr Doherty ignored the question and continued to ask the Tánaiste about testing.