474. Deputy Leo Varadkar asked the Minister for Health if he is making contingency plans for the possibility of having to provide health services for a wave of refugees coming to Europe and Ireland from Sudan due to the war, famine and humanitarian crisis unfolding there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37503/24]

The Government is committed to delivering a humanitarian response to people seeking international protection. The Department of Health and Health Service Executive (HSE) are co-ordinating the provision of healthcare services for more than 110,000 Ukrainians (BOTP), together with an additional 41,000 International Protection Applicants (IPA) who have arrived in Ireland since 2022.

Our healthcare service has had to adapt and increase resources to meet the health needs of Ukrainian and International Protection Applicants. A total of €124 million has been made available for the provision of healthcare service for refugees and migrants since 2022, including €50 million for 2024. This funding is used to deliver a suite of healthcare services that are responsive to areas of higher demand and local health service factors, and include health assessments, catch-up immunisation clinics and additional GP sessions where local capacity challenges are identified.

The HSE has developed a refugee primary care health model to provide a flexible healthcare response to address the health needs of IPAs and BOTPs who are living in temporary accommodation, including designated arrival centres.

The model is flexible insofar as it can adapt to delivering health services in areas where there are high concentrations of TPs. The model also includes GP sessional clinics to alleviate capacity challenges that have resulted from significant increases in demand for services.

I am committed to ensuring that healthcare services for refugees are provided in a coordinated and flexible manner.