EXCLUSIVE: Covid test centre planned for Castle Saunderson

The Celt understands part of the ongoing discussions concerns access by members of the public looking to avail of the local amenity.

A new Covid testing centre for Co Cavan within the grounds of Castle Saunderson is under consideration by the HSE.

The Anglo-Celt has learned the health authority has entered discussions with Scouting Ireland regarding use of the International Scout Centre near Belturbet, and also Coillte which owns the surrounding forestry and access roads.

Separately, the HSE has approached Cavan County Council with a view to accessing lands owned by the local authority around the historic castle itself in order to integrate a one-way system for test traffic.

'Finalising details'

A HSE spokesperson confirmed this week they were in the process of “finalising details” to open an alternative testing site in Cavan to the current testing facility at Ballinagh Health Centre. This would free up the Ballinagh site to reopen as a regular GP's surgery.

However, they did not confirm the location.

“When we get more details on this we will forward this to you,” the spokesperson added in their reply to this newspaper.

The €3.7 million EU funded Castle Saunderson International Scout Centre was officially opened by President Michael D. Higgins in August 2012.

The 34-acre site has been unused by scouts groups for much of the past 12 months due to Covid restrictions.

The Celt understands part of the ongoing discussions concern public access to the local amenity. It is regularly used by walkers, and among the proposals being considered is the idea of mapping out a new pedestrian specific route through the grounds.

The HSE has been contacted for an update statement regarding the plan, while Scouting Ireland, Coillte, and Cavan County Council have also been approached for comment.

Testing

In the week ending March 21 the number of people tested in Co Cavan was 273, up 43% from the previous week (190).

In Monaghan, 180 people were tested for Covid at the Cloghan GAA grounds test site, down 27% from the previous week (247).

The latest update from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre confirmed nine new Covid cases in Cavan as of midnight, Wednesday, March 24.

Cavan now has a five-day moving average of new cases of five per day and a 14-day incidence rate of 97.1 cases per 100,000 of population.

It translates to 74 actual new cases of infection in the county in the relevant two-week period.

In Monaghan, which has fallen from the top of the ranking board to almost the bottom in the past fortnight, the five-day moving average of cases stands at just one; while the 14-day incidence rate is 48.9/100K. There have been 30 cases confirmed in Monaghan in the past two weeks.

Infection

The national average for 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is currently 159.5 with counties Offaly, Kildare, Donegal, Dublin, Meath and Longford among the worst affected.

NPHET found, for the week of March 7-13, 60% of disease incidence taking place was through close contact transmission, and 24% in the community.

Almost two-thirds of transmissions occurred in households. Outside of the household, almost half of transmissions are occurring in social gatherings and the workplace.

In the week ending March 14, approximately one in 10 people visited another household for social reasons, with most of these visits involving time spent indoors, the HPSC found.

The B117 variant, Ireland’s most dominant variant of COVID-19, accounts for more than 90% of our cases and is extremely transmissible.