Mr. Michael Conroy:

The paired kidney exchange is one example of co-operation with Northern Ireland. My section in the Department works very closely with colleagues in the Department in the North who are working on the Altnagelvin radiotherapy project. With the same group of people, we organised two workshops which Professor Egan and a number of clinicians and nurses from the South attended.

Both occasions in Belfast and Dublin were very well attended and there was great enthusiasm on both sides around the potential for co-operation. It is certainly something that we are open to and I think they are too. How it transpires over time remains to be seen. Professor Egan may correct me, but I think there have been some patients from Northern Ireland who have had lung transplants in the Mater. There is an openness to sharing and there is potential and it would be very beneficial.

Only kidney transplants are done in the North, they do not do hearts, lungs etc.