Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses for their presentations here. It has been a very difficult time for everyone involved.

I wish to address the issue of treatment abroad. There is an issue with regard to treatment abroad and the cross-border healthcare directive. I was involved at European Union level with the cross-border healthcare directive.

My understanding of the cross-border healthcare directive is that you are entitled to medical care under the cross-border healthcare directive in another member state of the European Union if you cannot access treatment in your own country or if there is undue delay. The difficulty with the cross-border directive is that if you go abroad for treatment under the cross-border directive, you have to pay for it and then seek a refund. That is the disadvantage of it. Has anyone tried to use the cross-border directive to get that care? I acknowledge the problem is that you have to pay for it first and then get the reimbursement, but has anyone gone through it? The cross-border directive is different from treatment abroad and I am wondering whether anyone has gone through that mechanism.