PCR tests should be made available for free to under eighteens wishing to travel abroad this summer, the Mayor of Ennis has stated.
Citing the permitted return of international travel from July 19th and the eagerness of many families “to get some sunshine”, Cllr Ann Norton (IND) proposed that Clare County Council write to the Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly (FF) to make PCR tests available for free to those under the age of eighteen.
According to the HSE, the PCR test is “the most reliable COVID-19 test available because it looks at the genetic material of the virus. It is done in a lab and is a very reliable way of knowing if you are currently infected with COVID-19”.
Norton outlined, “The state has imposed the restrictions and it is not fair that the families who have been on lock down since March 2020 should have to bear this extra cost especially since there is no time line available for vaccinating under 18s. The cost of the PCR test is multiples of the cost of the vaccine and will add over €600 for a family with 3 children. Whereas a family of adults will not have this cost if vaccinated.”
International travel is set to resume in Ireland on July 19th when the Government adopts the European Union travel certificate. A new concept of an ‘emergency brake’ will be applied for countries outside the EU where there are potentially dangerous variants of concern in circulation.
Several families would like the opportunity to take a holiday abroad this summer, Norton told Monday’s adjourned meeting of Clare County Council. The Barefield representative detailed that “a huge number” of adults were now vaccinated. She added, “The Government haven’t given any young person under age of 18 the vaccine, they don’t seem to have a plan in place to provide the vaccine to them”.
She appealed to the Government to bear the cost of PCR tests for children and teenagers for families wishing to go abroad. “Not everyone will want a staycation, some people want to visit family members they haven’t seen in the last 18 months. We’re getting info in dribs and drabs, we’re getting nothing concrete”.
Costs should not be based on the size of families, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) commented as she seconded the motion, “we shouldn’t have added costs based on size of families”. She was hopeful there would be high temperatures in Ireland for the people who stay at home “but let people who want to get away without penalty”.
“It is not just people going on sun holidays, they want to go and visit their families,” Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) remarked as she called the absence of free PCR tests in such scenarios “very unfair”.
