Lack of Athlone test centre raised with Health Minister

Westmeath Minister of State Robert Troy said he will again raise the absence of a Covid-19 testing centre in Athlone with the Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, this week.

As highlighted in last week's Westmeath Independent, people from the Athlone area have to travel over 60 kilometres, to either Mullingar or Castlerea, if they need to be tested for the virus.

The HSE put in place a temporary mobile testing unit in Athlone IT late last week, but it said that Mullingar remained the primary testing site for people on the Westmeath side of Athlone

"The Mullingar site does the testing for people in Athlone. It has capacity for 400 tests per day and is not yet over capacity. We're watching it closely," the HSE told Minister Troy after he had raised the matter with the Health Minister last week.

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning, the local Fianna Fáil representative said he would be speaking to Minister Donnelly again this week in relation to the matter.

"It's my intention to speak with Minister Donnelly later today and to seek a further update. I think it's important that we have testing facilities as close as possible to people," he said.

"Given the new requirement that people are not allowed to travel more than 5km it makes this even more urgent, though of course people are allowed to travel more than 5km for a medical appointment."

Minister Troy was himself tested for Covid-19 last Thursday. "The test came back negative, thankfully," he explained.

"I wasn't feeling great, and I am hugely conscious that I am interacting with people, albeit at a far lesser level than I would normally.

"I was due to go to the Dáil that day, and I was reluctant about it, so I rang the doctor and was advised to get a test. I am conscious that I have a role to play individually, as well as being part of Government.

"When I read articles about people getting tested and then going off socialising (before they get the results) because they're feeling a bit better, that really enrages me, to tell you the truth.

"There's no amount of restrictions that can prevent the carelessness of the likes of that."

He added that, after getting the negative test result last Thursday night, he followed the health advice to self-isolate for a further 48 hours.