Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Reference has been made to the many discussions on these issues. A person can be busy but equally needs to have a strategic plan in place to address them. I urge the Minister not to be sidetracked by the big prize of the European Medicines Agency but to ensure that there is this monitoring across all areas of health to do with cross-Border activity. It could have profound impacts, even in the context of emergency services, for example, and in all of these key areas, particularly for people living in the Border areas who should have certainty. As referenced by Deputy O'Reilly, the cross-Border health care directive and the treatment abroad scheme are critically important because people do avail of them in the North and in the UK. They should be areas in which we try and see if we can come to some arrangement bilaterally to ensure that they can continue in some way or another. Otherwise, we will have other capacity problems.

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