Mr. Muiris O'Connor:

Deputy O'Connell and Senator Colm Burke raised issues about the recognition of qualifications and the extensive reliance we have on the UK higher education system for certain qualifications. That is a matter we are very live to and one that is very high on our risk register. Ireland is disproportionately reliant on the UK higher education system, particularly for specialist postgraduate programmes and the health sector is particularly reliant on that across various sectors.

In terms of the training bodies with the UK, there is a complexity in that regard. It is a bit like the bilaterals. It is not sufficient for us to engage with and agree equivalences with the UK because as part of a bloc of 27 other countries, it is a broader negotiation. However, when the negotiations get under way we are confident that our close relations with the UK will be utilised by the broader European side in ensuring a maximum of alignment. The UK would be very alert to that because it has a huge reliance on EU nationals in their health workforce. I do not want to say I am hopeful but there is a shared interest on both sides in that regard.

As a general point, the Department is working with much more detail than it was possible to bring to bear on the material supplied today such as the opening statement and so on. In advance of negotiations it would not be appropriate to divulge much of the detail but in terms of the details requested here on service level agreements, SLAs, and so on, we will look at that.

Senator Dolan captured very well the live nature of the process and the amount of contingency planning that has been done. In fact, it is almost all contingency planning. There is nothing that is not contingency because the UK's position is so unclear.

Senator Dolan also captured well the extent to which health is part of a bigger discussion. We probably made the apparatus and the arrangements sound complicated but they are quite streamlined within the Department and interdepartmentally and we may not have done them justice here today.

The national priorities have been set out and they relate to issues of economics and trade and customs and borders. It is clear in any of the health issues that those broader issues of customs and borders and trade will have huge and direct implications for the challenges we will be navigating on the health side.