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

What is the basis for Mr. O'Connor's confidence? I would not be confident and certainly would not be confident, given that the SLA does not include a reference to Brexit, perhaps one of the biggest things to happen in the health area in the North. If it is not stipulated in the SLA, from where does Mr. O'Connor derive his confidence that everything will be grand? The view of people living along the Border is that the Department of Health and other Departments are stating, "Sure we will be grand," and they are hoping they will be. When Mr. O'Connor says he has confidence that everything will be fine, although we have not included it in the essential agreements, it does not strike me that the Department of Health is planning seriously for Brexit. If there is a hard border, there will be huge issues. The SLA is predicated on the cross-border health directive and people being able to move freely. If they cannot move freely, which is a possibility, it will be too do anything late five minutes before the lads with the shiny buttons put up the customs posts along the Border. We have a chance to start planning for it. Mr. O'Connor is saying he is confident that it will be grand, but I am not hearing anything that backs up that confidence.