Professor Gerard Bury:

I thank Mr. Leahy. That was great. In some ways, my business has been to ensure that our project keeps its focus on the Ukraine pre-hospital scene. If the work that Mr. Leahy has described in Gaza becomes feasible, perhaps some of the kits and materials that we found to be critical at the front line will be provided also. That would require additional funding separate from what we have talked about regarding Ukraine.

I will return briefly to the question about a formal mechanism. My focus, as a former director of the UCD centre for emergency medical science and as someone who has worked in the pre-hospital area in this country for decades, with colleagues whom I admire beyond measure, has been on the pre-hospital element of care. This is probably one of the vital areas in which our expertise can be of use. We have demonstrated some of that in Ukraine.

We must remember that Ireland is a small country. We have our own needs, a small population and limited scope to provide care. When we began our conversation with colleagues in Ukraine in 2022 about what we could do to help, my insistence was on added value. We needed to contribute something that was not already available and that would make a difference over and above what those wonderful colleagues were doing. In the pre-hospital care and early hospital care arenas, as well as the continuing care phase of medical support for large-scale emergencies in other countries, there are areas in which niche and important expertise exist in this country. These could add to the work of bigger, more sophisticated and perhaps more robust agencies and countries, but there are areas in which we can contribute that bring that added value. They are built around planning and preparation. There is no point in simply upping and going. It is important to have these sorts of expertise that we have been able to tap into, through colleagues like Ben Heron and all of the other wonderful paramedic staff in Ireland who have contributed to our project.

Planning and preparation, the identification of roles, the mechanisms by which people can be seconded or released from their work and supplied with the training, equipment and framework in which they can make that added value contribution are all feasible activities. There are a number of options to explore them and I do not propose to offer my pet choice here. There are many people who could contribute to that discussion and develop some recommendations for implementation.