Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017
367. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the provisions being made by his Department to preserve and protect access to shared facilities in Northern Ireland for persons here and vice versa in view of Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30992/17]
View answerThe Government has made clear that Northern Ireland is one of its main priorities in relation to Brexit. This includes protecting all the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, maintaining EU support for the Peace Process, having an invisible border on the island and supporting continued North-South co-operation.
The acknowledgement of Ireland’s unique circumstances by both the EU and the UK has been the result of a major Government campaign of engagement with EU partners and the EU institutions to ensure our specific concerns were fully recognised. Our ongoing engagement with EU partners has shown that there is good understanding of our unique concerns, notably regarding the Peace Process and the Common Travel Area (CTA) and reciprocal rights.
Both the Irish and British Governments have indicated their intention to maintain the CTA after the UK withdraws from the EU. The CTA pre-dates Ireland and the UK joining the EU and is not dependent on EU membership. The CTA is particularly important in the context of the Northern Ireland Peace Process and relations on the island of Ireland. It facilitates the vast numbers of people who commute across the border and to and from Great Britain for work, business, trade, education, family, health or other reasons.
There is close cooperation between Ireland and Northern Ireland in the area of health. This cooperation occurs both within the framework of our common EU membership and on a bilateral basis, including at service-to-service level. A key priority of the Department of Health in addressing the implications of Brexit is to ensure continuity of health services and to preserve and protect current co-operation arrangements on a cross-border, all-island and Ireland-UK basis. This is being pursued on both a bilateral and EU-wide basis as appropriate. Of course, Ireland will be part of the EU27 team and looks forward to working with our fellow Member States in delivering the best possible result for Ireland and for the EU.
My Department and its agencies have been conducting detailed analysis on the potential impacts of Brexit. Ensuring continuity in cross-border health services has been identified as a priority and forms part of wider contingency planning being undertaken to address the implications of Brexit in the area of health. I would like to assure the Deputy that I am fully committed to preserving and protecting cross-border health co-operation and access to shared services.
