Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sure that for a long time before that, he would have been affected by loss of vision and all that comes with that, including isolation which I know can be much worse in a rural area. I am pleased to note that he was able to avail of the cross-Border health care directive, which means his treatment was funded by the HSE and by the Irish taxpayer even though he had to travel to another jurisdiction for it. One of the benefits of EU membership is that people can avail of the cross-Border directive. The number of people availing of it is increasing all of the time. I would like to see more people, at least, consider the option of having their treatment in another EU country and having it paid for by the Irish State. It would, of course, be preferable that people would be able to have these operations in their own counties or, at least, their own country. To try to achieve this, the Deputy will be aware that under budget 2017, funding for the National Treatment Purchase Fund was increased significantly from approximately €20 million in 2017 to €55 million in 2018. In addition to this, a further €20 million is being provided to the HSE to enable it to re-open, staff and fully equip theatres in orthopaedic, ophthalmic and ENT hospitals to allow for an increase in the volume of these procedures to be carried out, including hip, knee and cataract operations. As part of this programme, an additional 20,000 such operations will be carried out in the next year. I sincerely hope that in the months ahead men and women with conditions and problems similar to that of the gentleman mentioned will get their treatment much quicker.

The Deputy will also be aware from the National Treatment Purchase Fund statistics that the number of people waiting for an operation or inpatient procedure has fallen for two months in a row. We anticipate that when the new data are published in a week or so, they will show the numbers have fallen for three months in a row. We have a long way to go but it is encouraging that after a long time, the number of people waiting on operations is now falling again.

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