Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend those from the civic nationalist group who organised an open letter to the Taoiseach. The previous letter was signed by 200 people but this one was signed by 1,000. The increase in the number of signatories is not only an indication of the welcome support of a broad range of nationalists in the North but also a sign of the growing concern that their rights are threatened by Brexit. It is important that the letter outlined the threat to specific rights such as that relating to healthcare. In the context of North-South medical treatment, a person travelling from the North to the South for medical treatment is currently covered by the EU health card but that will no longer be the case after March of next year. These issues need to be discussed in a very real way. There are fears regarding what Brexit will mean in terms of access to housing, the mutual recognition of educational qualifications and access to educational grants and other matters. The big concern is that in spite of the very positive response of the Government to those who feel threatened, those people feel more threatened today than when they signed the first letter.

I commend the public responses from the Taoiseach to the letters. It is very important that these issues are highlighted. It would be worthwhile for the Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, to come to the House to address some of those issues, specifically those regarding health, education and so on. While I very much welcome that the Taoiseach guaranteed that Irish citizens in the North would not be left behind and that there would be no hard border, we need to see the practical steps he will take to underpin that promise. I thank those who signed the letter and I thank the media for the way they have discussed it. This is a very important issue. It is not good to have a vacuum or to have people in fear of losing their lives.