Trinity has ordered 100,000 free antigen tests for students, which are due to arrive next week.
Last week, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said that colleges would provide students with free antigen tests to curb the spread of coronavirus on campuses.
In a press statement this afternoon, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Communications and Marketing Officer Aoife Cronin said the union wanted to encourage “personal responsibility”, and is recommending students self test regularly over the Christmas period.
“The cost of antigen testing is currently a barrier to access”, Cronin said. “The success of the Unicov programme demonstrated significant demand from students for antigen testing.”
“We plan to work with College to disseminate the tests, as soon as they arrive.”
Last week, Harris announced plans to ringfence €9 million in funding to provide free tests for distribution on college campuses.
In a statement to the Irish Times, Mr Harris said: “The fund is there to buy antigen tests and provide them to students for free, and it’s up to institutions how they decide to do that over the coming months.”
He added that testing initiatives already in place in universities have been “an additional and helpful measure for students and staff”.
“I have met with the experts who see benefit in expanding use and I have heard from students who have asked for assistance with the cost. I am responding to this with a €9 million fund which will be available for all colleges in Ireland to draw down from to provide free antigen tests on college campuses”, he said.
The tests will be provided alongside an awareness campaign around antigen tests and how to use them correctly.
In a press statement, Head of Communications for the Irish Universities Association (IUA) Lia O’Sullivan said: “The IUA welcomes the announcement of €9m funding for the provision of free antigen tests for third level students. This builds on the Uni-Cov project already in place in a number of universities.”
She added: “Universities will now work to source supplies of testing kits as soon as possible. We also welcome the announcement of an information campaign by government on the correct use of antigen tests.”
Correction: 03:45pm, December 9th, 2021
Due to incorrect information provided by TCDSU, an earlier version of this post erroneously stated that the free antigen tests are due to arrive before exams start next Monday. In fact, they are due to arrive next week.
