Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

People crossing over and back is a part of everyday life. In those circumstances, we need to have complete co-operation between our health services, North and South, to make sure the risk of infection is minimised. At the recent North-South Ministerial Council, the administration from Stormont came down to Dublin Castle and it was a good meeting. A large part of it was made up of a presentation from the office of the Chief Medical Officer in Northern Ireland with Dr. Ronan Glynn, our own acting Chief Medical Officer. I know from talking to Dr. Glynn that they are in regular contact and are committed to integrating the two systems to make sure we minimise the risk of transmission across this island. I do not have specifics in terms of additional measures that are being considered in that regard but my sense is there is nothing restricting co-operation. If there is, we should identify it and address it with our colleagues. I am going to a North-South Ministerial Council meeting next week. If any Deputy has examples of where there are problems about gaps between the two, I am happy to raise it there.

See this speech in context