Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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344. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 337 of 15 May 2025, her plans to evacuate children that are currently stuck in Gaza, awaiting medical treatment and exposed to famine. [26406/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his further query in relation to the medical evacuation to Ireland of paediatric patients from Gaza.

As the Deputy is aware, Ireland has a strong tradition of providing humanitarian assistance including through the Department of Foreign Affairs Irish Aid humanitarian and development assistance programme and the HSE Global Health Programme.

It is anticipated that further medical evacuation missions will be conducted during 2025. Discussions are ongoing with the HSE and other stakeholders in relation to planning for the next medical evacuation mission.

Procedures for medical evacuations to Ireland are well established. Medical evacuation requests are managed through the European Union using the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), with the HSE managing the clinical support of the injured patient and other departments and agencies responding to the ancillary support needs.