Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

11. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the health services’ preparations for Brexit. [20784/17]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Question No. 11 in the name of Deputy Donnelly will be taken by Deputy Kelleher.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What is the status of the health services' preparations for Brexit? We have discussed this issue in the committee, but I seek clarity on the Minister's thinking on the issue of Ireland's preparations for the impact it could have on our health services here given that Article 50 has been triggered. I instance the treatment abroad scheme and the cross-border health care directive given the number of people who go to Northern Ireland under that directive. The other issue relates to the number of people working in the UK health services who could be discommoded with the withdrawal of the free movement of people.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have taken part in a number of Brexit-related meetings, including at the North-South Ministerial Council. I have also met the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development; the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health; the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety; the Northern Ireland Minister for Health; the UK Secretary of State for Health; the executive director of the European Medicines Agency; the CEO of the German-Irish Chamber of Industry & Commerce; the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport; the Belgian Minister of Social Affairs and Health; 23 EU permanent representatives as recently as last Friday; and a number of Irish officials as well as our ambassador. We have been very busy in the Department of Health working on Brexit, as all Departments are.

Ireland’s preparations for Brexit continue to be strongly co-ordinated from the centre of Government through the Brexit Cabinet committee chaired by the Taoiseach. My Department participates fully in the senior officials group on EU affairs, the interdepartmental group on EU-UK affairs, and as appropriate its working groups established to support the Cabinet committee on Brexit. Regular contact is being maintained with Departments on cross-cutting issues of relevance for the health sector.

As the Deputy is aware, a very extensive programme of engagement on Brexit by the Taoiseach and Ministers has been taking place with other EU Governments and the EU institutions reinforced by extensive engagement at diplomatic and official level. I have outlined the series of meetings I have had in the past year, including with the EU Commissioners and fellow Health Ministers.

In the area of health, all work relating to the impact of Brexit is informed by the following key priorities: to ensure continuity in the provision of health services; and to avoid any changes to the current situation that would have a negative impact on human health.

The Department of Health and its agencies have been conducting detailed analysis on the impacts of Brexit in the area of health. Multidisciplinary workshops are continuing within the HSE and with key external stakeholders in this regard. Work on the implications of Brexit is also a priority for other health sector agencies. The ongoing preparations for Brexit include an in-depth analysis of relevant EU legislation and regulations.

In my Department, we have established a management board subcommittee, which serves as a co-ordinating body to pull the various strands of this work together. It is chaired by the deputy Secretary General and includes HSE representation at national director level.

The Government also believes that Dublin would be a very suitable location for the European Medicines Agency, particularly in the interests of ensuring continuity and sustainability in the conduct of its business. Such continuity is critical for European citizens and the industries which the EMA regulates. I visited Brussels last Friday to meet 25 EU ambassadors and diplomats and the Belgian Minister for Social Affairs and Health to provide detail of the Dublin campaign. I presented a brochure and website, www.emadublin.ie, setting out the compelling reasons for relocating the European Medicines Agency to Dublin. I will officially launch the brochure and website for the Dublin bid tomorrow. The relocation of the EMA is one of the potential benefits from Brexit. We have tough competition. The Deputy has alluded to other challenges to which I would be happy to respond.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister good luck in his campaign to relocate the EMA to Dublin, or to Ireland at the very least.

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Dublin Bay North.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Obviously, decentralisation would be very much appreciated in other parts of the country. We wish him well with that. However, there are potential downsides to the whole issue. We cannot accept that the relocation of the EMA will resolve all our problems.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I know.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am not saying he is. For example, I refer to vaccination programmes on an all-island basis; co-operation on rare diseases, particularly in paediatrics; and transplanting where we do not have the capacity on our own, but with the Republic, the North and Britain we would have critical mass. A considerable amount of work needs to be done on those areas.

The negotiations by the UK Prime Minister, Mrs. May, have been quite ham-fisted to date. Views such as no deal is better than a bad deal are being expressed. I can accept that people are squaring up to each other to a certain extent. However, real lives are at stake here given the impact it could have. I urge the Minister to keep an interested eye on these areas and not to be side-tracked by the bigger issue of the EMA coming to Dublin, which I accept is very important. However, in the longer term, the issues I have outlined are significant.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In accordance with Standing Orders, I call Deputy Louise O'Reilly for a short supplementary question.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

When officials from the Department of Health Brexit committee appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health, I was flabbergasted. When we asked how many people use the cross-border directive to avail of NHS services, they were able to give us an approximate figure, but were not able to tell us how many people go to England. However, what was worse was that when I asked why they did not have that information for the meeting, they advised me that they had only sought the information from the HSE when they got the invitation to our meeting.

I asked a follow-up question on the service level agreement between the HSE and Altnagelvin hospital. I asked them if it was Brexit-proofed. That SLA was signed after the referendum. However, they could not tell me. The Minister and the Department are sleepwalking us into the worst effects of Brexit. I do not think this issue is being taken seriously - perhaps by the Minister but not by his officials.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I take it very seriously, which is why I have had meetings with the Northern Ireland Minister for Health. If we had a Northern Ireland Minister for Health now, I would be able to have another meeting with the Northern Ireland Minister for Health on Brexit. It is being taken very seriously by me and by the Government. We saw the benefit of this being taken seriously by all of Government in the outcome of the European Council negotiating guidelines. That is why I met the Northern Ireland Minister for Health on a number of occasions on Brexit. We had good engagement on that. I have met the UK Secretary of State for Health, Mr. Jeremy Hunt. I have met the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety to discuss Brexit on a number of occasions.

Deputies Kelleher and O'Reilly are correct in pointing out very serious issues affecting health care, just as there are in many other services if we end up with the common travel area being in any way compromised.

That is why the common travel area has been identified as one of the Government's four Brexit priorities. This is of particular relevance to cross-Border health care. The fact that the common travel area has also been referenced as a priority by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the British Government is a result of our collective work. I do not mean this in a partisan sense. It is a result of all of our work in making sure the common travel area remains. There is absolutely no sleepwalking. There is an absolute determination to get Brexit right. We are very determined with regard to that. There are other issues that I will come back to in a moment if I have the opportunity.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We have two minutes left for questions. I could take Question No. 12. I will allow Deputy Kelleher a quick supplementary question.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Reference has been made to the many discussions on these issues. A person can be busy but equally needs to have a strategic plan in place to address them. I urge the Minister not to be sidetracked by the big prize of the European Medicines Agency but to ensure that there is this monitoring across all areas of health to do with cross-Border activity. It could have profound impacts, even in the context of emergency services, for example, and in all of these key areas, particularly for people living in the Border areas who should have certainty. As referenced by Deputy O'Reilly, the cross-Border health care directive and the treatment abroad scheme are critically important because people do avail of them in the North and in the UK. They should be areas in which we try and see if we can come to some arrangement bilaterally to ensure that they can continue in some way or another. Otherwise, we will have other capacity problems.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I could not agree more. I assure the Deputy that that is the Government's perspective and that is exactly what we are working towards. When I meet the UK Secretary of State for Health, the Northern Ireland health Minister or the European Commission, this is what we are discussing. Like all Government Ministers, I am making people throughout the European Union aware of the importance of getting this right and the importance of making sure that Brexit does not result in a return to a hard Border and does not result in damaging or undermining the common travel area, which is so important to our people. It is important to nurses travelling either side of the Border, to emergency vehicles as the Deputy said, to the very sick children in this country who have operations carried out in London and to the very sick children in Northern Ireland who come down to Crumlin to have their cardiac operations. This is an issue that we have made sure Europe and the European Commission are very clear on. I believe that clarity is reflected in the negotiating stance taken by the European Commission. I can assure the Deputy that my Department and the whole of Government will be making sure that these issues are adequately addressed in the Brexit discussions to take place.