Mr. Fergal Goodman:

I do not have a lot to add, really. The principal distinction between the two schemes is that treatment abroad is very much a service-to-service arrangement, as the Secretary General has said. As Mr. Hennessy has indicated, the HSE is proceeding on the basis that those service-to-service arrangements are essential in many ways and need to be maintained whatever happens. The confirmation of the HSE's legal authority to continue with those arrangements is one of the purposes of the Bill.

As people will be aware, the cross-border directive puts the control in the hands of the patient to elect to source a service elsewhere. That is not something that would otherwise exist in legislation. The omnibus Bill that is being developed will need to pin that down in particular. As the Secretary General has said, what we are seeking is the legal underpinnings that will enable the patients to continue to make those individual choices to access services. That is the policy mandate that the Government has given us in that regard. Both arrangements are essentially dependent on reciprocation from the UK as far as is necessary to enable those systems to operate. At present our understanding is that we expect that reciprocity to be forthcoming, all other things being equal.