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

Brexit is a huge worry on the minds of many people in the Republic as the deadline is looming ever so near, with no agreement in place as we speak. There is no doubt that Brexit will impact on many businesses. While much preparation has been made for that impact, not knowing is the hardest pill to swallow right now. Agriculture will be hard hit. A recent Central Bank report stated that beef and sheep farmers will be the most economically vulnerable. It states that up to one third of farms could be forced out of business because of Brexit. The fishing industry will be most affected. The biggest shock of all is to see Michel Barnier negotiating with senior British officials and offering 18% of fish or more in a Brexit deal with the UK. I have asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach in the past two weeks whose fish Michel Barnier is offering but I have not received an answer. We all know it is Irish fish that are on offer, but there is no Irish Minister negotiating on our behalf in these talks with Michel Barnier as more and more rights in terms of Irish fish and waters are being thrown away, like successive governments have done for decades.

My question relates to Brexit and all those in this country who are suffering from pain or the nightmare of going blind. In October, I asked the Taoiseach about the cross-border directive. I have asked the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, about it in the past two weeks. I asked the Tánaiste about it last Thursday. All of them stated that an agreement is in place for taking cancer patients from Donegal to Derry and an agreement for taking cardiology procedures from the North to the South will be in place, which is great news. In reply to me last Thursday, the Tánaiste and leader of Fine Gael stated, "I cannot give as clear a reply as I would like [to the question on the continuation of the cross-border scheme] because some of these issues are still being worked out." He continued, "we are trying to put alternative arrangements in place to maintain the status quowhen it comes to cross-border healthcare", but this has not been worked out yet.

More than 5,000 people availed of the cross-border directive last year for cataract, hip and knee procedures among others. I or any other politician would totally agree with the statement of the Taoiseach that these procedures should be carried out here in the Republic, but that is not happening. Belfast or Blind bus No. 64, organised by me, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, Councillor Ben Dalton O'Sullivan and Councillor Danny Collins, will leave Cork on Sunday. It will be full of people desperately trying to get to the North before 31 December because no one knows whether any type of cross-border scheme will be in place by 1 January.

Will people in this country, be they from west Cork or Donegal, who are in dreadful pain because they are in need of a hip or knee operation or who are going blind and in need of a cataract operation and cannot wait for three to five years for surgery, be able to contact a private hospital in Belfast from 1 January to have their procedure carried out and then be reimbursed by the HSE? In other words, are all the necessary arrangements in place or is the Government still negotiating a new cross-border deal?

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