There is no benefit in carrying out rapid testing across inter-county players, according to Professor Mary Horgan.

The All-Ireland championships got the green light on Monday to go ahead this winter under the new Level 5 restrictions and there have been calls to increased Covid-19 testing for players.

However, speaking on Off The Ball, Professor Horgan explained that rapid testing won’t work.

"A testing strategy has been put in place," she explained, "(but) there is no benefit in doing rapid testing across inter-county players. That is a screening test and it is fraught with difficulties: false positives, false negatives and it only covers a point in time.

"Routinely screening (players) without any symptoms is not currently something that we would recommend at all. If there's a case or cluster, rapid testing would kick in at that time.

"It would be there to investigate if there was a player or staff member who was positive and it could be done in support of the public health investigation that might take place.

"Other than that, there is no position for rapid, routine testing as a screening tool at this point in time. Again, that's in line with public health guidelines."

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