The Taoiseach's demeanour and attitude and his answers yesterday when questioned about the cross-border directive and allowing people to go to the North of Ireland to get their cataracts removed were totally unacceptable. He talks about building something in Cork to deal with this problem. He is saying that he will not allow the cross-border directive to continue but how is there such a difference between him and the Minister, Deputy Coveney? They are in the same Government and the same constituency. Many people will go blind if the Taoiseach does not allow this and ensure that the service continues. I took a woman up to Belfast in August. If she had had to wait two weeks more, she would have lost her sight. Does the Taoiseach understand that? This service has to be allowed to continue and legislation needs to be introduced to allow it to continue.

The Deputy clearly did not listen to me yesterday. I actually said that we would have to replace the European Union directive with a separate bilateral arrangement between Ireland and the United Kingdom. That is because the cross-border directive is a European Union directive. The Deputy and I know that Britain is leaving the European Union on 1 January so that specific directive could not apply from then onwards. That is what I said and the Deputy should not misrepresent it. I believe it is far better if we can provide capacity locally for people to get cataract surgery rather than having to travel long distances to Belfast or other areas. I welcome the fact that the services are available in Belfast and that, through this directive, the taxpayer and health services have facilitated reimbursement for people who have availed of the cross-border directive to date. I also said yesterday that, as part of the Brexit negotiations and the common travel area, we are looking to renew the ongoing relationships and arrangements between the two countries in respect of health services for Irish citizens in Britain and British citizens in Ireland. That is the spirit in which we intend to proceed.