A Sligo councillor has raised concerns about members of the defence forces in the north west contracting Covid-19 and bringing it back to their families.
Solidarity People Before Profit Councillor Gino O Boyle is calling on Sligo County Council to write to the Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney, to ask why defences forces personnel from Finner Camp in Donegal have to travel to Dublin to bring people for Covid-19 tests when there are more than 1,500 personnel already in Dublin.
Cllr O’Boyle also has concerns about defence forces personnel in Coolmoney Camp, in the Glen of Imaal in County Wicklow, where they have readiness exercises in preparation for overseas trips.,
Ocean FM News received the following response from the Irish Defence Forces:
‘Óglaigh na hÉireann is a frontline service and has been conducting operations in support of the Health Service Executive to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic since March 2020. These operations cover a wide range of activities including contact tracing, swab testing, logistical support in distributing PPE and transporting test samples, supplying tentage, marshalling and traffic control to test centres around the country, transportation of patients, among other support tasks. We do not comment on the specific operational distribution of our personnel.
‘Óglaigh na hÉireann is adhering to HSE guidelines on COVID-19 and has put robust systems in place to ensure that this essential training can be conducted as safely and compliantly as possible. Additionally, in accordance with UN and national directives, personnel deploying to UN missions are required to undergo an isolation period of 14 days in advance of their departure,’ the response concluded.
