I thank the witnesses for their presentations and am grateful for all the work that has been done by both the Department and the HSE. Everyone very much appreciates it. Both the Department and the HSE played a major part in developing the cross-border directive over a long number of years. As a result, Irish people have benefitted substantially in being able to travel abroad when treatment is not available here.

The presentation suggests that many of the angles have been covered. Is there a particular angle of concern that will now change? The one area I want to find out about is the case of someone who is working in the UK, has private health insurance and ends up receiving healthcare. Have the health insurance companies engaged in the same way as the Department and the HSE as regards making sure the existing arrangements will still be in place after 29 March? Have the witnesses had any feedback from the health insurance companies on that?

Much work has been done as regards joint co-operation between Belfast and Dublin and between Derry and Donegal on providing medical care for people travelling between the North and South to receive care. Will there be any real change in the services that will be available? Will there be a change in how remuneration is resolved between the parties? What kind of changes do we expect in that whole area?

On training in respect of medical care, the working time directive has brought in many changes here. It has been very good for staff as regards working time and the hours they have to put in every week. However, others would claim that there is less training as a result of the reduced working hours. Now that the UK is going to be outside the European Union, the likelihood is that it will change some aspects of the working time directive. How are we going to deal with that?

We have certain qualifying criteria, for example. Has there been any indication that there will be changes to these in terms of the training of nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists or doctors, including GPs? Has the issue been discussed?