Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I thank Professor Bury and his team for coming in today and for all the great work they are doing. It is fantastic. I have two very brief questions. The first is in relation to the medical specialists and this panel of people the witnesses are looking to put together or is at least suggesting.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has this rapid response corps which the Chair might remember from his days as Minister. Could we include a separate stream in the rapid response corps, which would be medical-specific and for medical specialties? We have a tradition of sending small groups of people abroad for humanitarian reasons and there is a framework already there. We could expand that framework slightly, rather than just having generalists, logisticians, engineers and linguists, we could include a medical specialist stream as well. That was my first question and I wonder what the witnesses' thoughts are.

Second, to back up the Chair, Mr. Leahy is doing great work in Gaza in relation to that containerised hospital. I am not sure what the Department of Foreign Affairs can do. Is there something specific the Department of Foreign Affairs could do? Could it charter a ship, for instance, or provide logistics to help this containerised hospital get to Gaza? I am conscious of the likelihood of conflict spilling over into Lebanon in the next two weeks or slightly longer and Mr. Leahy might required to go to Lebanon as well with a similar concept.

To conclude, I want to acknowledge the support of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who has been very supportive. My two questions are: is the rapid response corps worth exploring and is there anything specific the Department of Foreign Affairs could do to help Mr. Leahy get the equipment to Gaza? I thank the Chair.