Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes is the straight answer but I will come back to Deputy Stanton on the detail of that. My understanding was that we had made progress in facilitating spouses whose partners have a work permit to come and work here. I will come back to the Deputy with the detail of that because certainly the intention is to make some progress in that area.

With regard to the Medical Council of Ireland, I am happy to have a meeting either with Deputy Colm Burke or independently regarding some of those issues. From an enterprise perspective, but also from a healthcare perspective, we are reliant on bringing in skills from other parts of the world. That has to happen quickly and efficiently in many cases, whether it is for nursing home care or State-run bodies such as hospitals and so on. If there is an unnecessary blockage in terms of the timeline, we can keep working on trying to address that. I can also speak to the Minister for Health on it if that is helpful.

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