asked the Minister for Health what effect, if any, entry to the EEC will have on the administration of this country's health services.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Health Services.
8.
On entry, many EEC provisions affecting the public services generally will also affect my Department and health boards. Others, specifically related to health, will affect the laws on food additives, food standards and on the manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products. Other items covered by EEC draft directives of special interest on the health side include social security benefits for migrant workers and their families and right of establishment and freedom of movement of medical practitioners, dentists, pharmacists, opticians, nurses and midwives.
Entry will not affect the administrative structure of the Irish health services. I may add that relevant EEC subsidiary legislation already enacted has been the subject of discussions between EEC officials and officials of the applicant countries at which officials of my Department participated. These discussions are continuing.
How do our social security benefits compare with those in the EEC countries? If we are lagging behind is it the intention to bring the benefits up so that they will be uniform?
As I understand it, if we join the EEC we will be obliged to provide social security benefits for migrant workers which will correspond with our own benefits here. Whatever standard we have will be applied to migrant workers coming here. These discussions are continuing and the list of negotiations is so long that it would be impossible for me to deal with it here but, if the Deputy wishes to have information about the negotiations as they stand and the matters to be discussed, I shall be happy to supply him with that information. It would take far too long for me to give a complete description here of the on-going negotiations in relation to my Department.
How soon will changes be effected by the Minister's Department to meet the standards of the EEC?
I could not possibly say. It is a matter of continuing negotiations. In many cases the difference in standards is relatively slight. For example, on the complicated question of food additives, the EEC understanding differs slightly from what is being discussed in relation to our negotiations with the United Nations. It is a very complex matter. I could not possibly answer it here.
Will it require special legislation here?
I could not say that until we know the final outcome of the negotiations.
Are there any regulations in relation to health in EEC which the Minister is anxious to have changed?
I could not say. It would be quite impossible to say at this stage.
From the original answer the Minister gave to the question I took it that our standards were very inferior to those of EEC. Of course this is all mythology; there is no question of our going into EEC. The whole thing is all nonsense, but I object, and I want to let the Minister know, that I object to any suggestion that our standards are inferior to those in Europe——
I have made no suggestion to that effect.
The Minister did make it in answer to the first part of the question.
I made no such suggestion. What I said was that there are marginal differences. There are all sorts of complicated questions, as for example, the rights of doctors and dentists and medical practitioners to practise here. Standards in regard to medical education differ in EEC countries. The Deputy need not try to complicate the situation by suggesting that our standards are lower.
I do not want to complicate anything but what are these differences the Minister talks about?
That is a separate question.
Everybody knows our food is the best in Western Europe.
(Interruptions.)
Would it be possible for the Minister to circulate details of what is happening?
No, not until the negotiations are concluded.