Mr. Muiris O'Connor:

I will start with the data protection questions, after which Ms Donohoe will address the areas of healthcare being assessed. Soon after the UK secured the data adequacy decision in June, the government there announced a consultation exercise to see if it would be possible to liberalise and adjust its approach. We will watch that activity closely, as will the EU. The equivalence decision does exactly what it says on the tin. It respects and permits the free flow of data based on comprehensive equivalence with the standards of the EU and the general data protection regulation, GDPR. That regulatory framework has been adopted well beyond the EU and it is becoming a type of global reference point for good management of data and balancing privacy with public interest.

We sincerely hope the UK is not minded to deviate from those norms as that would fundamentally impact not just health but banking and many trade and commerce aspects, as well as service-to-service co-operation. It was one of the most onerous bits of our mitigation. We had made hundreds of data-sharing agreements. All organisations, on a cross-border basis, had to do these data sharing agreements as a fallback in case the adequacy decision did not come through. I do not want us to go back there. The adequacy decision is what supports best international co-operation in health and right across other areas. The Senator's question is a very good one and we will keep a close eye on this area. Ms Donohoe will comment on the nature of the services being availed of.