Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that funding is not the constraint. The cost of the scheme in 2020 was €15.4 million. In the context of a healthcare budget of €22 billion, funding is not the issue. The scheme is demand led and the costs depend on how many people avail of the services under the cross-border directive or the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme. It is important to reassure people that that scheme continues to be in place. I acknowledge that in its current format it is temporary, but it is the intention of the Government to put that on a firm footing in order that people in the Republic can continue to access services in Northern Ireland in a manner equivalent to the cross-border directive that we had up to the end of last year. The funding is in place. We have an existing scheme. The expectation is that a new scheme to be permanent should be underpinned by legislation. It should be a statutory scheme and it falls to the Minister for Health to introduce that. I will raise it again with him, further to the question having been raised by Deputy Collins this morning.

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