COVID-19 testing in the Republic of Ireland

With the acquisition of the sequence of the virus, they used this to develop and validate in-house assays in advance of obtaining any commercial diagnostic kits.

[2] On 15 May, the Naval Service completed its mission and—having been involved in 6,000 tests—transferred its duties to the Army (also under Operation Fortitude); the Army had begun work at the Aviva Stadium the previous day (while ships such as the LÉ William Butler Yeats—by this time based in Dublin—returned to sea, the LÉ Eithne stayed in the city of Cork for purposes of storage and logistics, not testing).

[23] Former testing sites which were later replaced by the local stadiums mentioned above include Ballyhaise Health Centre in Cavan[9] and the disused St Conal's Hospital in Letterkenny.

[24][25] Centres ranging from the counties of Cork (in the south)[26][27] and Donegal (in the north)[15][28][29] were shut at various times due to lack of testing kits.

Throughout March, April, May and June 2021, the Health Service Executive (HSE) set up more walk-in testing centres across the country.

Centres were established in Dublin, Offaly, Meath, Westmeath, Kildare, Galway, Mayo, Limerick, Waterford, Tipperary and Louth.

[45] From 28 April, testing criteria for the virus was broadened again to include anyone with one of the symptoms of fever, recent onset of cough or shortness of breath.

[52] Scientists based in a laboratory in Sligo began making two types of reagent for COVID-19 testing carried out in the northwest of the country.