Sinn Féin leader wants everyone to get free antigen tests and collect them from schools

Mary Lou McDonald said: "Up the road in the North school kids get a certain number of them every week, so it can be done."

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said: "This is a public health emergency and in emergency circumstances you take emergency measures."

Mary Lou McDonald is calling on the Government to provide free antigen tests to everyone, many of which could be dispensed through schools.

The Sinn Féin leader has also suggested that schools be used to vaccinate younger age groups in the New Year, instead of vaccination centres or GP surgeries. Ms McDonald said antigen tests remain very expensive for some people and should be freely available to the public to encourage greater use of the tests.

"I'm very conscious that the cost, even at the reduced prices in some stores, if you have a larger family or if you're on a small income, that's a lot of money so they they should be provided.

Up the road in the North school kids get a certain number of them every week, so it can be done.

Calling on the Government to centrally procure antigen tests and provide them free of charge to the public, Ms McDonald said: "Yes, they're going to cost money, but Covid has been an extremely expensive public health emergency."

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly had initially indicated that he would introduce a subsidy to make antigen tests more affordable. However, this plan was scrapped after he said retailers had reduced the price of the kits themselves.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Ms McDonald said: "This is a public health emergency and in emergency circumstances you take emergency measures. So in respect of antigen testing, there was kind of like a twilight period where the Government was toing and froing and dithering.

"Everybody knows an antigen test is not the same as a PCR test. There is no singular thing that solves this verse. Like that's not reality. So what you need to do is have your entire toolkit and you need to deploy everything that you can, as efficiently as you can. 

"And that's what makes the whole Government's approach to antigen testing and Hepa filters all the more bewildering," she said.

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Ms McDonald said the air filtration systems are "not expensive" and should be centrally procured and provided to all schools. Education Minister Norma Foley last week announced additional funding under the minor works scheme, which she said schools can now use to obtain Hepa filters.

However, Ms McDonald said: "The Government shouldn't be standing back and leaving it to the discretion of the school community.

"I think all of us want schools to stay open, that is a shared objective, but if that is your objective, you have to, to the best of your ability, get ahead of things," she said.