UK paid Ireland €400m for health services for people who move between the two countries

The Department of Health has revealed Ireland received nearly €400m from the UK over the last two years under an agreement on the cost of health services for people who move between the two countries.

The UK paid Ireland €172m last year and €220m in 2013 in respect of people who are entitled to British social welfare, but benefited from healthcare in Ireland.

The high number of Irish people who work in the UK before returning home to retire has been cited as one of the significant factors that contribute to the payment.

The details of the deal, provided for under an EU agreement, were disclosed in a letter from Jim Breslin, Secretary General at the Department of Health to the Oireachtas’ Public Accounts committee.

“Any person who is ordinarily resident in Ireland is entitled to either full eligibility [medical card holder] or limited eligibility [all others] for health services,” Mr Breslin wrote.

“In the applications of its provisions in the context of Ireland, it means persons residing in Ireland who are attached to the social security system of another European Union or European Economic Area member state, or Switzerland, are entitled to receive public healthcare services in Ireland at the cost of that member state provided they are not subject to Irish social security legislation,” Mr Breslin said.

While Ireland has issued claims worth €3.3m to other member states under the agreement, Mr Breslin said the State’s primary interaction has been with the UK since the two countries entered into agreement in 1973.

Mr Breslin said the net liability with its nearest neighbour was worked out on a lump sum basis, and Ireland was the net beneficiary of the agreement.

“This reflects, among other factors, the historic tendency for Irish people to spend a large part of their working life in the UK, thus contributing towards UK national insurance before return to Ireland in their retirement,” he said.

The largest part of the payments made under the agreement relates to the provision of healthcare to pensioners, which has been calculated using the results of sample pensioner surveys.

Mr Breslin said that Ireland and the UK are in discussions on a revised method of calculating the costs.

“Following discussions in recent years both administrations agreed in principal to work towards the introduction of a system of pensioner registration which will form the basis for calculating reimbursement costs in the future,” Mr Breslin said.

Mr Breslin also said €275.5m was “provided for in the Revised Estimates as an Appropriation in Aid in the current year”.