The testing facilities, which will be operated by healthcare firms Randox and RocDoc, will offer passengers and consumers the option of either a drive-through test or a walk-in test. The RocDoc facility opens on Thursday, November 19, while Randox will open its facility on Monday, November 23.
Prices, which are set by the providers of the service, will start at €99 (see details below) and both PCR and LAMP testing will be available. The testing facilities are fully open to the public, whether they require a test for travel or for another reason.
All customers will need to pre-book their test online in advance and this can be done directly with the healthcare company in question. Links to the booking portals will also be available on the Dublin Airport website. The healthcare providers that are working with Dublin Airport have testing capacity of more than 12,000 tests per day if needed, and this will shortly be expanded to 15,000.
“We have been keen to provide testing at Dublin Airport for some time and the Government’s recent decision to grant planning exemption, which we strongly welcome, will enable two testing facilities to open this Thursday,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison.
There is a demand for travel-related COVID testing, as several countries now require arriving passengers to have had a negative COVID test result prior to travel. Testing is also one of the elements of the new European Union/European Economic Area traffic light system for travel, which has been adopted by Ireland and other European countries.
“We have significant capacity in place to implement high volume PCR testing, which is currently the only method of COVID-19 testing recognised and approved by every country worldwide,” said Sophie Boyd, Project Manager for Randox’s testing service at Dublin Airport.
RocDoc Chief Executive David Rock said the company had been working with Dublin Airport for more than two months in relation to the new facility and was “pleased to get the go ahead” to begin. “We will be installing a category two laboratory and testing facility, which will be able to process over and above the expected tests per day,” Mr Rock added.
Mr Harrison said the opening of dedicated COVID-19 testing facilities at Dublin Airport was “a very positive step to help people travel safely and meet emerging rules both at home and abroad.” However, he added that ultimately “Ireland needs a rapid low-cost COVID-19 testing system for travel similar to those being trialled and used in other countries using Antigen testing”.
Randox’s walk-through facility will be located in an existing building close to the Terminal 2 multi-storey car park and will have separate entry and exit points for customers. RocDoc’s drive-through facility will be located in the Express Green car park, which is accessed via the R132 (Old Airport Road). Both facilities will be clearly signposted.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Irish Government has set the State’s rules in relation to COVID-19 and travel and that continues to be the case.
Last week, the Government adopted the EU traffic light system on travel, within which specific regions are independently designated as Green, Orange or Red by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (EDCD) depending on the level of cases in those areas.
The State is advising that consumers “exercise a high degree of caution” if travelling to countries covered by the EU traffic light system. The advice for other countries is to “avoid non-essential” travel. (Full details on www.dfa.ie)
There are no restrictions on travel from a Green area to another other country within the system. Each EU member state can set its own rules in relation to how it deals with arriving passengers from Orange and Red areas.
The Irish Government has said that passengers arriving from an Orange region should restrict their movement for 14 days unless they have a negative/not-detected result from a COVID-19 PCR test taken no more than three days before their day of departure.
According to Irish Government guidelines, passengers arriving from a Red region are requested to restrict their movements for 14 days. However, arriving passengers from Red regions do not have to continue to restrict their movements if they have a negative/not-detected result from a Covid-19 PCR test taken at least five days after arrival in Ireland.
All countries outside the EU traffic light system are considered as Red regions by the Irish State, and the guidelines relation to Red regions apply to them.
Currently, the Irish State only accepts the results of a PCR test when applying its guidance to arriving passengers at Dublin Airport. This is being kept under review.
Any passengers who are required to take a COVID test for travel to another country should familiarise themselves with the requirements of the country in question in relation to testing. Each country sets its own rules in relation to which tests it recognises.
Pricing*
Randox (Walk-through service)
PCR test €99 with results the next day
Please see the Randox website for more information on booking HERE
You can also call the Randox booking helpline direct on tel: 0044 2890 394 286
RocDoc (Drive-through service)
PCR test €129 with results in 24-48 hours
LAMP test €149 with results in 12 hours
LAMP test express €199 with results in 5 hours
Please see the RocDoc website for more information on booking HERE
You can also call Roc Doc direct on tel: 01 969 7893
*Prices are set by the companies in question.
About Randox
Established in Co Antrim in 1982, Randox is a global leader in healthcare diagnostics. More than 5% of the world’s population – in excess of 370 million people across 145 countries – receives medical diagnosis using Randox products each year. Its products and services are used in hospitals, clinical, research and molecular laboratories, food testing, forensic toxicology, life sciences, and veterinary laboratories.
Randox is one of the UK Government’s laboratory partners within the COVID-19 testing programme and also offers a private COVID-19 testing service to business and individuals. It has four key manufacturing and research and development sites, located in Co Antrim, Co Donegal, India and the United States.
About RocDoc
RocDoc launched Ireland’s first private section drive-through COVID-19 testing service in August and recently opened facilities in Cork and Shannon airports. Headquartered in Ashbourne Co. Meath,
RocDoc has more than 20 years’ experience in the provision of field hospital units for music festivals and concerts in the UK and Ireland, such as the Isle of Wight Festival. The company also provides support for the annual Dublin City Marathon, where it provides over 150 medical professionals and 15 ambulances. The company currently operates a GP service and a Minor Emergency Department in Ashbourne.
