From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today (Tuesday) announced that a fund of €9 million is now available to publicly-funded further and higher education institutions to provide antigen testing kits to students.
The fund is being provided to encourage the use of antigen testing amongst students. This is based on public health advice to this sector in relation to multigenerational mixing from the Expert Advisory Group on Rapid Testing.
Speaking today, Minister Harris said:
"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Department and the wider further and higher education sector has followed public health advice. We have gotten 400,000 students safely back on campus within that advice. We are going to keep following that advice, and that’s why I am announcing this fund today.
"The sector has shown huge flexibility in its response to COVID-19 and that autonomy and flexibility will continue. The fund is there to support further and higher education institutions in providing a small number of antigen tests to students for free in order to get students accustomed to their use. It will be up to institutions how they decide to do that over the coming months. I want to thank the sector for their willingness to sign up to this. It’s so important that we protect the health of the most vulnerable groups in our society, and I know students and institutions share that ambition.
"This fund will also be accompanied by an awareness campaign around antigen tests and their appropriate use. I hope this will help students, staff and our college communities.
"This is additional layer of protection, to prevent onward transmission. It is about protecting students, our third level sector and the community at large."
The fund will be divided between further and higher education institutions and will provide five free tests for each student.
Prof Mary Horgan said:
"We know that the epidemiological situation is in constant flux and that the risks associated with activities and age group susceptibility can change rapidly. The current epidemiological situation is of significant concern and the overarching public health advice at present is that people of all ages reduce their discretionary social contacts given the very high disease incidence. Rapid antigen testing is a useful tool to protect yourself, your family and friends, but it is not a green light, it’s another layer of protection. It’s vital that we all keep up with existing public health measures - get your vaccine, wear your mask, reduce your social contacts, social distance, choose outdoors to meet others and avoid poorly ventilated indoor spaces."
Prof Breda Smyth said:
"It’s important that everyone knows how to use rapid antigen tests and interpret the results. If you feel well and want to add another layer of protection, you can take an antigen test, following the instructions on the package. If your antigen test gives you a positive result you need to self-isolate and get a free PCR test. Even if your antigen test gives you a negative result you may still have the virus, so you still need to be careful and follow the public health advice."
The Department is also seeking to continue the UniCov study in the new year. Further details on this will follow.
For more information on how and when to use antigen tests, visit gov.ie/antigentest .
