Over 10% in Donegal not showing up for COVID-19 tests, complains Senator Robbie Gallagher

Robbie Gallagher, who is originally from Termon, cited statistics from the HSE community healthcare organisation (CHO) that illustrate the number of non attendances locally.

The Fianna Fáil senator said the figures showed that one in ten people enrolled for coronavirus tests in Donegal were no shows.

“In Monaghan this figure was as high as 11%; in Donegal it was in excess of 10%; and in Sligo, for some reason, it was greater than 20%.

“That is very disappointing. We need to know why those people are not turning up. Is it because they have no transport? Is there a childcare issue? Is it because they are afraid they cannot get off work? We need to know the reasons behind the non-attendance. By not turning up, those people could be infecting other people - perhaps with devastating consequences. It is also a waste of resources to have people standing by and waiting for people to attend an appointment, who do not show up. It is a serious issue.”

Fine Gael leader in the Seanad Regina Doherty said: “If it is a transport or childcare issue, then those issues need to be addressed, but it may be, as it was last year with people not showing up for their second PCR test, because they think they are grand. The most shocking tweets I have read were from Dr. Tony Holohan recently. He talked about how we have had more cases in January than we had in the entirety of 2020. More than 1,000 of our citizens, people’s loved ones, have passed away completely needlessly, yet we still do not seem to be getting the message through. We will try to find out the reasons and come back to that.”