It seems temperature checks will now be introduced at Leinster House because of questions raised on Tipp FM.
Tipperary Fianna Fáil Deputy Jackie Cahill was asked on ‘Tipp Today’ earlier this week whether or not there were any Covid-19 precautions being taken on entry to government buildings and he said there weren’t.
He subsequently wrote to the Ceann Comhairle requesting that a system for temperature checks be put in place.
Speaking to Tipp FM News now, the local deputy says that is being implemented:
“You know, after the radio interview the other morning when Fran [Curry] put the question to me, the reality is that we weren’t being checked.
“There’s a serious amount of people working there. You have 160 TDs and 60 senators and an awful lot of secretarial staff, caterers, cleaners and all the rest.
“So I think, as Fran said, we weren’t leading by example and that is accurate.
“From next week onwards, there are going to be temperature checks taken which, hopefully, won’t find any victims.”
When asked why he thought those checks mightn’t have been in place up to now, when other business premises have been installing them, Deputy Cahill replied:
“I’d say, and this isn’t an excuse, but I wouldn’t say it dawned on anyone to do it.
“I suppose, we’re all coming from different parts of the country and for a long time the Dáil hadn’t been sitting. When the lockdown was there previously the Dáil wasn’t sitting.
“So, since the Dáil resumed, I would think it didn’t dawn on anyone to do it. Honestly, it was just Fran’s question to me the other morning – and I answered it as honestly as I could, that it wasn’t being done – I said I’d bring it up with the Ceann Comhairle, which I did.
“It’s going to be done now from next week.”
While a temperature alone is not a sure sign of COVID-19, it can be a symptom of the disease. The advice from the HSE and the World Health Organisation remains that anyone experiencing any symptoms should isolate and contact their GP.
