Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney says that consumers can be confident that there will not be any shortages of drugs or specialised foodstuffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
He was responding to concerns expressed by senior health officials about post Brexit access to 45 key drugs, as well as foodstuffs for people with specialised diets and breast milk for premature infants.
The only breast milk bank supplying neonatal units in Northern Ireland and the Republic is in the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
Mr Coveney told RTE’s Today with Sean O’Rourke show that the Minister for Health Simon Harris will bring a detailed memo to Cabinet this week about the stable supply of medicines.
“It gives me confidence that we can manage that. A lot of planning is going on with suppliers," he said.
He said that there could be changes to supply routes and that the authorisation process with regards to medicines will have to move to outside the UK.
There will also be a memo to Cabinet this week from the Department of Transport on shipping availability in the event of a no deal Brexit, he said. Shipping capacity might move away from using the UK as a land bridge.
Mr Coveney said that plans for the development of Dublin Port are well under way with the provision of an additional 13 inspection bays, parking spaces for 270 trucks along with 144 extra staff.
I am confident that we will have the physical infrastructure and staff in place to fulfil obligations.
He acknowledged that there is a human resources challenge, but that it has been broken down between three government departments.
Two further “very important” memos will be brought to Cabinet this week, he added. One in relation to the Common Travel Agreement and the other on emergency legislation “in case a no deal Brexit is foisted on us.” It will be an omnibus piece of legislation, he said.
The Government will be open to “good ideas” from the Opposition.
When asked about the possibility of a general election this year, the Tánaiste said that the Government is focused “on the job we have to do.”
The Government is facing a big challenge in Brexit, “that’s our focus for the next 12-15 months".
He said he did not expect a general election to be held until the first half of 2020.
