Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are many issues I would like to speak on this evening. Agriculture and other issues are very important in relation to Brexit but I will concentrate on two issues.

Brexit is generating a fallout for the fishing industry. It is already visible with a huge increase in the number of foreign boats operating in Ireland’s exclusive economic zone, the EEZ. Irish vessels have fished traditionally primarily in the north-west waters round Rockall, the Scottish Isles, in the Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea. Following Brexit, we will lose about 50% of our fishing grounds. Irish fishing trawlers have little or no rights in the North Sea, English Channel, Portuguese or Spanish waters as our fisherman are prevented by not having a history of doing so when Ireland joined the EU with no historical landings for what they caught as much as was needed in UK and Irish waters.

A no-deal Brexit will force all EU vessels from UK waters, estimated at around 400 vessels. In contrast, our entire fleet of over 18 metres or 59 feet in length numbers only 170. This possible invasion of displaced EU vessels means certain damage to the biologically sensitive area where fish come to spawn and juveniles feed and grow before the swim away.

The demersal white fish fleet must be protected. Some vessels in this sector catch up to 70% of their fish, which makes up to 80% of their earnings, in UK waters. I see that the industry, working with its French colleagues, has learned that a substantial commitment has been made to the fishing sector that includes a substantial sum for each individual vessel affected. A figure of €800,000 each has been mentioned and I hope that some kind of compensation package is being put in place. The Minister might enlighten us in that regard.

The biggest issue I want to address is protecting and maintaining the common travel area, CTA, and associated rights and benefits. Those considerations must form a critical part of Ireland's planning and preparation. That is vital not only in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland peace process, but also for broader UK-Ireland relations. It would be helpful, therefore, if the Minister and the Government could outline the broad thrust of the background work undertaken to date in securing the CTA. It would also be helpful at this point to obtain clarification on the legal guarantees being put in place on the CTA and whether they have been formally agreed with the British Government. Will measures be committed to in order to facilitate individuals from the State who wish to obtain medical treatment in Northern Ireland under the EU directive currently in place? If not, what concrete guarantees are being put in place to ensure that a patient from this State can continue to avail of treatments under the scheme in the North after 1 January? This is an issue that I and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group have been raising in the Dáil at every available opportunity over the past few years. We are concerned that, with approximately eight weeks left before the UK leaves the EU, the Government has still not provided clarity on this issue. Will the Minister please clarify the matter? Can he offer a guarantee that a patient from the State can continue to obtain treatment under the cross-border directive scheme in a hospital in Limavady or Belfast after 1 January? Has a bilateral agreement been reached with the UK so that patients from the Republic will be able to avail of EU directive type treatments in the North? Has this formed part of discussions? The extent of progress, or attempted progress, in this crucial area remains unclear.

The Minister said earlier:

However, the Government recognises the importance of such programmes and benefits to Irish and therefore EU citizens in Northern Ireland. Therefore, Part 3 of the Bill provides for a scheme to allow eligible residents of Northern Ireland not covered elsewhere to seek reimbursement for the cost of necessary healthcare while on a temporary stay in another EU or EEA member state or Switzerland, should it be required, from 1 January 2021.

We have tried tirelessly in this Dáil over the past two months to get a straight answer from the Taoiseach and he has skirted around giving one. People from Cork and Kerry, in particular, have been going to the North of Ireland for procedures on their cataracts, hips and knees. A clinic is to be opened in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in Cork. I look forward to that happening but it will probably not be for another two years. People are going blind every day of the week here. We have saved up to 2,000 people's eyesight by allowing them to go to Northern Ireland. I want a straight answer and I will give the Minister a chance to give one. Is the Government negotiating for patients to continue going from the South to the North, even if it is a for a two-year period until we have the issue resolved, to allow for cataract, hip and knee procedures? Will that scheme continue indefinitely after 31 December? I ask the Minister to clarify that and give a straight answer because the Taoiseach either does not understand or does not care. To date, the Minister has been fairly straight up on these issues.

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