Ms Catherine Donohoe:

The nature of the services that people are availing of continues in exactly the same way as under the cross-border directive. Orthopaedics, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, ENT, and gynaecology services are the main services involved. The reason for that is the length of waiting times in Ireland. We know this because when people submit their forms we ask them to indicate the reason they are using the cross-border directive or the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme. We do so for no other reason than to allow us to understand why people are using these services, and 90% of respondents indicate it is because of the waiting times in Ireland. Mr. O'Connor will address the query on Sláintecare.