Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Brennan for raising this issue with the usual passion, empathy and decency he brings to all matters on the floor of the Dáil. Our colleague the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, who is present, is working with the Deputy on this. I will certainly work with him on it, too.
We are all thinking of Eimear. We send our very best wishes to her and her family. None of us can even begin to imagine how difficult the last number of years have been.
A factual point to make is that the HSE operates the EU treatment abroad scheme for people entitled under what is called EU Regulation 883/2004. I am putting that on the record to be helpful. The scheme is consultant led and allows for a public consultant based in Ireland to refer a public patient who is normally resident in Ireland for treatment in the healthcare service of another EU member state, the UK or Switzerland. There is no statutory framework for the referral of patients outside of that. I do not say that to be difficult; I just say it to be honest. However, the HSE has informed officials in the Department that it has received an application in relation to Eimear's situation this April. The HSE is now trying to evaluate that. It has sought some further information, and when it has received that documentation, it will work its way through it and engage further with the family. The Minister for Health will continue to seek urgent updates on the status of that application, and of course she will engage directly with the Deputy.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16