Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning I want to raise an issue which was raised with me by means of a telephone call last night after a television programme on TV3. In the programme debate on the budget, it was mentioned by a certain Deputy that he was running buses to the North for people to get cataract operations done there under the National Treatment Purchase Fund. A friend of mine who was watching this programme rang me in disbelief. His uncle lives in Tyrone and is on a six-month waiting list to get his cataracts done in the North. If he comes down here, he can get them done straightaway once he pays and he will then be refunded by the NHS. This is the exact opposite to what is happening here. There are people coming down from the North to get their cataracts done on the day they arrive. Then there are people being driven from all over Ireland to the North for the same scheme. We talk about carbon taxes and how we will tackle climate change. Aside from the implications to the health system, the carbon footprint created by shipping people from one jurisdiction to another for health services is unbelievable. These people are generally elderly and it is a traumatic experience getting this procedure done. If one has to have this procedure done, one would be far more comfortable in that trying time in one's own locality. It is important the Minister for Health comes to the House to discuss how this can be overcome. If we have a hard Brexit and do not have an all-island health service or free movement, will people on both sides of the Border have to wait six months to get their cataracts done? It is farcical. If it was not so serious, it would be funny. However, I actually laughed when I got the phone call. I was not aware that people from the North are coming down here to the same extent as people from the South are going up, getting the procedure done on the day and then reclaiming the money from the NHS. It is a debate we need to have. Why can we not do our own and they do theirs? If nothing else, we will cut out the carbon footprint of the travel between the two jurisdictions.