I raise again the issue of patients who need cataract procedures, hip and knee replacements and several other procedures. They have been advised today by the HSE that, as of 1 January, patients will not be accepted or cannot carry on with the cross-border directive. There are mutterings of a bilateral agreement with Northern Ireland but nothing has been forthcoming on this. Is the Taoiseach going to let people who have problems with their eyes and need cataracts removed go blind? Is he going to let the people who need hip and knee replacements continue suffering in pain? That is more or less what he has been insinuating in recent weeks. This is most unfair. Is the Taoiseach going to allow people to go blind after 1 January? That is the question I am asking him.

I, too, was informed this morning by the chief executive of a hospital in the North. This Saturday I have a bus going up to the North. I went on Radio Kerry this morning to discuss this important issue. I raised this with the Taoiseach in the Dáil before. To be clear, 5,500 patients have used this scheme every year for the past four years. It is not only for cataract operations; it is also for having tonsils removed and orthopaedic procedures, to name a few. If we take it that 5,500 people will be unable to travel to the North after 1 January and if we put those 5,500 on to our already overburdened waiting lists, it will cause chaos in our health service.

I am pleading with the Taoiseach today to ensure there is a bilateral agreement with the North of Ireland. We cannot have a situation whereby the only way people can get cross-border treatment is by going out of this country to some place like Spain. That will not work. The age profile of the people is such that many of them are too elderly to travel like that. I am pleading with the Taoiseach to do something for these people.

Is Deputy Griffin indicating to come in on this question?

I have been indicating for ten minutes to get in.

I have made it clear in the past that this is because Britain is leaving the European Union. This is not a scheme; it is a European directive. Europe made this facility available to all the citizens of Europe. It is a cross-border arrangement for health services which are then recompensed by their taxpayers. Since Britain is leaving the European Union, its participation in the directive falls. That is what is happening. That said, I have indicated in this House that we are negotiating a bilateral agreement. Whether there is a deal or a no-deal Brexit, we are negotiating a bilateral agreement. The UK health service and the health service in the Republic or the Department here are negotiating. The omnibus Brexit Bill has provisions for Northern Ireland on a range of issues.

To be fair, under the common travel area, and not only on the common travel issue, historically, the British-Irish relationship on access to health services has been excellent. The UK health service provides specialist treatments and has received many Irish children and people down through the years, and vice versa. We now have cardiac care in Ireland in Crumlin for children, for example. That is the spirit in which we intend to proceed.