Two Covid-19 testing centres have opened in Dublin and Wexford providing rapid antigen tests for lorry drivers bound for France.
RocDoc opened two dedicated testing facilities on Thursday at Dublin Airport’s blue long stay car park and at the Circle K motorway station off the M11 near Gorey in Co Wexford to coincide with new rules that came into effect from Thursday for hauliers travelling to France.
Commercial drivers are now required to produce proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of their journey.
The antigen tests will be free for lorry drivers and results will be available with an hour.
RocDoc chief executive David Rock said he was very excited to open the two sites after the company signed a contract with the Department of Transport.
“We want to keep the queuing system to an absolute minimum and the timescale to get tested as quick as possible but also as efficiently as possible,” he said.
“To do that we need anyone using our facility to pre-book the test so that can be done on covidcheck.ie.”
Mr Rock said he wasn’t “overly concerned” about capacity as each testing facility has 30 cubicles and it takes five minutes on average for each swab.
“If they book in they won’t get delayed,” he said.
Mr Rock also said it was important that drivers arrived on time to prevent any issues.
“If you’re booked in for 10am and you arrive at quarter to 10 then you’ll be in that queue but if you’re booked in at 10am and you arrive at 8am then you’ll be asked to come back,” he said.
“If there’s capacity for us to see you during that time then we’ll do that but it can cause delays and that’s not what we want.
“Articulated lorries are quite large vehicles so we do ask drivers to keep to the schedule. It’s no different than turning up for your ferry.”
RocDoc is set to open an additional site for Rosslare bound traffic in the coming days at Holmestown, just outside Wexford town.
Mr Rock added that the healthcare company is in talks with the department to open more centres in other parts of Ireland.
Haulier David McCormick, who arrived at the test centre outside Gorey on Thursday to avail of testing before heading to France, was delighted with the new centre.
“It is going to be very good for the trucking industry,” he said.
“It will give everybody confidence in the drivers and hopefully it should make passage an awful lot easier and quicker,” he said.
