The chief medical officer Tony Holohan has said he’s drawing up plans for limited antigen testing in some schools. Fórsa says pilot schemes now appear likely, though more details are awaited.

The move came after Fórsa wrote to education minister Norma Foley seeking the introduction of antigen testing for primary school students and staff, as a growing number of primary school children are contracting Covid-19.

The union outlined increasing concerns that the Government lacked a clear policy on the use of antigen testing. The test have been officially endorsed for use in food processing plants, universities and for HSE testing of close contacts.

Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said a review of antigen testing, and the protocols for the contact tracing and testing of asymptomatic students, would demonstrate that maintaining health and safety was a priority

“Primary school students are now one of very few groups in society for whom neither asymptomatic contact tracing, nor antigen testing, are available. Regardless of where they contracted the virus, either in the community or in their school, students are now attending school unless identified as testing positive or displaying symptoms,” he said.

The union says last September’s withdrawal of contact testing and tracing for asymptomatic primary school students addressed the significant disruption caused through the exclusion of students whilst they waited for negative test results.

But it has created an impression that the relaxation of primary school mitigation measures is now driving an increase in case numbers within the primary school age group.

Andy suggested to the minister that the process for close contact tracing of symptomatic students is reviewed to ascertain if it is possible to reduce the length of time students are required to restrict their movements.

“The availability of walk-in PCR testing would, in our view, assist in the rapid test-and-trace response required to improve health surveillance for primary school students, while minimising time spent out of school,” he said.

He warned that if the current situation continues to deteriorate, confidence in the ability of schools to operate safely could be undermined, and suggested a number of practical steps that could be taken in the medium term, including air filtration and ventilation systems.