Mr. Bernard Gloster:

First, the cross-border routes are a good thing to have. They give patients choice. The treatment abroad scheme is a good thing to have. The Northern Ireland scheme post Brexit is a good thing to have. That is people's choice to exercise. What I am fundamentally concerned with, and what the Minister and Government are concerned with, when it comes to the reform of elective care is removing the private construct from public hospitals and making very clear delineations and separations. It does not mean we will never have private care again in Ireland. We have to allow citizens have their choice, but when it interfaces with the public system we have seen what we need to do in terms of safeguards. A parallel system has developed in areas like third-party insourcing, and they are parallel systems that we should not continue to rely on.