It's being developed by an Irish company which says it would have 90-95% accuracy.
A rapid test for Covid-19 which would see results in 15 minutes and could be used for self testing, could be available by Christmas, Newstalk reports.
It's hoped the product, being developed by an Irish company Assay Genie, would also be available in pharmacies.
Colm Ryan chief executive of Assay Genie outlines how it would work:
''Basically it's a swab test, so it's a nasal swab and you put it in a little tube with some liquid and you apply it to what we would call a lateral flow device - which is like a pregnancy test.
''And you wait 15-minutes and it would tell with approximately 90-95% accuracy whether you have Covid or not''.
Traffic light system.
Meanwhile, the final arrangements are being made to roll out the EU's traffic light system here on Sunday, which will see countries branded green, red or orange.
The traffic light system will see different rules apply depending on what colour country passengers are arriving from, but are likely to include testing passengers and asking them to restrict their movements for a period of time.
However the Chief Medical Officer says international travel could be riskier in the weeks before Christmas than it is now.
He added that its impossible to say now if public health officials will be able to change its stance on non-essential travel in time for Christmas.
