Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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1813. To ask the Minister for Health if she will consider aiding in the medical evacuation of a person from Gaza (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58669/25]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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1870. To ask the Minister for Health to examine the case for a medical evacuation of a person from Gaza (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58886/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1813 and 1870 together.

I thank the Deputy for her questions regarding medical evacuations from Gaza to Ireland.

I can advise the Deputy 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.

In July 2025, the Government amended the scope of the Gaza Medevac Initiative to allow family members of paediatric patients—parents, minor siblings, or adult dependent siblings of the patient —to obtain visas and permission to enter the State. The Government also agreed to examine other options in addition to Egypt for evacuation of paediatric patients from Gaza.

Since September 2024, Ireland has evacuated 19 paediatric patients and 84 accompanying family members in evacuations from Egypt in December 2024 and May 2025 and from Gaza via Jordan in October 2025.

Such medical evacuations are highly complex, and many factors are subject to challenging, shifting external circumstances. Considerable cooperation among a variety of international stakeholders is necessary to ensure safe and successful operations.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has the primary role of selecting patients for overseas medical evacuation. In consultation with WHO and other partners, the Ministry for Health in Gaza follows a strict set of criteria for selecting patients to be evacuated.

Only paediatric patients are considered for the Irish Gaza Medevac Initiative, as is the case in many other European countries that carry out medical evacuations.

Paediatric patients are selected by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) from the WHO medevac-approved list, strictly subject to treatment capacity in the HSE and CHI.

Once CHI has confirmed that the selection criteria are met, offers of medical evacuation are made. If accepted, relevant authorities work to secure all required documentation and permits to allow the patient and their carer and family members to be evacuated. Plans are drawn up to carry out the complex medical evacuation in cooperation with key organisations on the ground and in Ireland.

This is the process that has been followed in all medical evacuations to date and which will inform all future medical evacuations carried out by Ireland under the Gaza Medevac Initiative. In addition, there are many elements of an evacuation that are not within the control of the WHO or the participating European countries.

While I am fully aware of the significant number of patients from Gaza requiring medical evacuation, it is not possible to consider direct requests or representations for inclusion of particular patients in future medevac operations. It is important for the integrity of the Gaza Medevac initiative that paediatric patient selection be made by the HSE and CHI in line with the agreed process.