Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2018
530. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health if he will report on post-Brexit access to essential PKU food and protein replacement supplements that are currently made and packaged in Britain and shipped here; the measures being taken to ensure that access is not limited in the event of a hard Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37534/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe co-ordination of the whole-of-Government response to Brexit is being taken forward through the cross-Departmental coordination structures chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In this capacity, the Department of Health is working closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to address the many challenges resulting from Brexit.
The Department of Health and its agencies including the HSE have been conducting detailed analysis on the impacts of Brexit in the area of health and intensive Brexit preparedness and contingency planning is underway.
A key issue will be to ensure that there is minimum disruption to health services and that essential services are maintained on a cross-Border, all-island and Ireland-UK basis. Priorities include ensuring continuity in the supply of medicines and medical devices, ensuring access to services, manpower in our health services, continuation of existing cross border health co-operation and public health arrangements.
On regulatory issues, it is clear that having a single set of rules across the European Union is enormously helpful – to protect human health, to ensure consumer protection and to provide a level playing field for industry. Ensuring continuity in the supplies following the UK’s departure from the EU is a priority. The issue of customs is of relevance as it relates to additional food safety controls and medicines. The implications of Brexit for networks and organisations such as the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed are also under consideration.
Contingency planning for a no-deal or worst-case outcome was identified as an early priority and is now well advanced. Its focus is on the immediate economic, regulatory and operational challenges which would result from such an outcome. It assumes a trading relationship based on the default WTO rules, but also examines the possible effects on many other areas of concern.
This work has provided baseline scenarios for the impact of Brexit across all sectors, which can then be adapted as appropriate in light of developments in the EU-UK negotiations. This is enabling the modelling of potential responses under different scenarios, such as one where a withdrawal agreement, including a transitional arrangement, is concluded and where a Free Trade Agreement is the basis for the future relationship between the EU and the UK.
In line with this approach, the Government has already approved a number of key Brexit preparedness measures focused on East-West trade and has mandated the presentation to Government before the end of September of detailed and costed proposals on the staffing, IT, infrastructural and operational requirements for the implementation at ports and airports of the necessary customs controls and sanitary and phytosanitary checks required as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
The Government’s enterprise agencies continue to work with companies, helping them to deal with Brexit – making them more competitive, diversifying market exposure, and up-skilling teams. In total 51 reports analysing the effects of Brexit across a broad range of sectors and in some cases setting out responses have been published to date by Government Departments. All these reports are available on a dedicated Brexit webpage at: dfat.ie/brexit.
