Ms Emma-Jane Morgan:

On the question of the EHIC rights, which the Senator raised questions on in particular, the Senator is correct that we did have some Brexit contingency planning as part of the Brexit omnibus Bill, which is now an Act, to provide, in the event there was no deal and a loss of EHIC rights for our citizens in Northern Ireland, that the State would put in place a reimbursement scheme. I am pleased to say that it is not actually necessary for the Irish Government to implement that scheme because, under the trade and co-operation agreement, those rights have been maintained for the citizens of Northern Ireland. Everybody in Northern Ireland who currently has a European health insurance card is able to continue to use that card up until the date it expires. Once it expires, the UK Government is putting in place a new global health insurance card and people will transition onto that card. There was no need then for the Government to implement its contingency plans because of the maintenance of those rights under the trade and co-operation agreement. This scheme would have been inferior in many ways because it would have been a reimbursement scheme and people would have had to pay up front for costs. In this way, people will now just present their EHIC or their global health insurance card as normal, whenever they can travel abroad, and access healthcare in that way. They will apply for that in the same way in the North as they have done heretofore through the NHS.