Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their attendance and presentations. I was struck by the frequent mention in the opening statement of analysis and what might happen in future. I was in Donegal and Sligo fairly recently and people are very occupied with the implications of Brexit. They fear the Government and the various Departments are not as occupied and from listening to this, I tend to agree with them. This is very high on aspiration but frighteningly low on detail.

With regard to work done to date, has an exercise been carried out to quantify the amount of work and extent to which our health service is reliant on the National Health Service, NHS, with regard to the cross-border directive and other issues? The radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin has a very recent service level agreement with the HSE. Has that been Brexit-proofed? I am willing to be corrected but my understanding is it was signed after the vote in Britain. If the agreement has not been Brexit-proofed, I would be very disturbed about how serious is the Department in dealing with the issue.

The next issue relates to the extent to which we are reliant on the NHS in the North and in Britain. Is there a plan B, as scenario planning has been mentioned? Is one scenario what will happen if there is a hard Border and in the event that it becomes more difficult for people than it is now? I know people in County Donegal, for example, who will rely very heavily on the services in Altnagelvin. A hard Border will be quite frightening for those people. Specifically, there is the issue of transplants. I am sure the witnesses are aware of media reports of difficulties that our health service has in trying to hit required times in this respect. We have our own problems in the Twenty-six Counties and they have been aired in the media. I know there is a service in the North but has advance planning been done with regard to that vital service and how we can avail of it?

There has been mention of what is happening at the Department but what is the involvement of the HSE?

I ask for a list of the HSE groups that have been established and the work done to date. Much of this references the work of the Department. The involvement of practitioners and those delivering health services on the ground will be essential in contingency planning. I fear that five minutes before the border is put in place someone will say, "Well, Jim, we had better put a plan together for how we are going to manage without being able to access services in the North." Perhaps the delegates might put my mind at rest.

Who from the HSE is involved in the working groups? If they are not involved, do they have their own group? If they do have their own group, what is the level of communication between the departmental group and the HSE group? How will it be managed?