Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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831. To ask the Minister for Health if she will confirm the reunification for families of medical evacuees from Gaza that was announced in July 2025; the date on which these families will be reunited with their family members already here receiving treatment; the way in which the reunification process will proceed; the details of the way and when family members still in Gaza will be brought here; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the medical evacuees are desperate to have their families here following the announcement the Government made in July, and that the delay is having a significant impact on the traumatised families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54841/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question in relation to medical evacuations from Gaza to Ireland.

I can advise that Ireland continues a strong tradition of providing humanitarian assistance including through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Irish Aid humanitarian and development assistance programme, and the HSE Global Health Programme.

In September 2024, a Government decision was made that Ireland would evacuate up to 30 paediatric patients from Gaza (under 17 years of age) and their carers out of Egypt, in response to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) request to activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) to assist in addressing the Gaza healthcare needs through medical evacuation. To date, 12 paediatric patients, their carers and a further 21 family members have been medically evacuated out of Egypt to Ireland in two medevac operations in December 2024 and May 2025.

On 15 July 2025, the Government amended the scope of the Gaza Medevac Initiative to allow for family members of paediatric patients that are parents, minor siblings or adult dependent siblings of the patient, on grant of visas, permission to enter the State. This decision not only applies to future medical evacuation operations but also to the families already here under the Medevac Initiative who have qualifying family members still in Gaza.

I appreciate that those who have been evacuated under the Gaza Medevac initiative are eager for their family members to join them in Ireland. I fully understand the stress the Gazan families in Ireland are experiencing in relation to this matter. My Department is assisting in preparations for a civilian evacuation from Gaza via Jordan to facilitate family reunification of families who arrived in Ireland via the Medevac Initiative.

Officials in my Department have been working closely with the HSE, CHI, WHO, IRC, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the Ministry of Health in Gaza regarding selection criteria and complex logistical arrangements towards evacuations out of Gaza via Jordan in the near future. This include engaging with three embassies and obtaining www.gov.il/en/departments/coordination-of-government-activities-in-the-territories clearance to leave. I can assure the Deputy that this evacuation will take place as soon as possible subject to the necessary requirements being complied with.

I can confirm that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is leading on the operational and logistical aspects of such evacuations to secure safe passage from Gaza to Jordan and onward to Ireland. My Department, with the assistance of the Irish Red Cross, is leading on the identification of eligible family members, and on engagement with Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to secure visas and will support family members on their arrival in Ireland.

Visa applications of eligible family members meeting the criteria for the civilian evacuation, including the three children referenced in the Deputy’s query, are currently being processed by Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the patient families in Ireland are being updated regularly.

However, while the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration can grant visas for eligible family members to travel to Ireland, the exit of persons from Gaza is dependent on all necessary documentation being in order and on receiving permission from the relevant local authorities, both in Israel and in certain circumstances, neighbouring jurisdictions. Such permissions are outside the control of the Government of Ireland.