Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach knows, in early 2021, the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme was put in place as a replacement for the European Union cross-border directive, following Britain’s exit from the EU. This scheme and its predecessor have enabled large numbers of patients to access treatment or surgery or both in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, paid for by this State. By and large, these were patients who had been on long hospital waiting lists. Similarly, people from Northern Ireland have access to treatment in private hospitals in this State where there is spare capacity across some specialties. This scheme needs to be put on a legislative basis and not just on administrative basis as at present. We should be seeing more use of this scheme, especially for children who are awaiting therapies, for example. I would like if there were a timeline in respect of the legislative measures.

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