More children from Gaza in need of medical treatment are expected to arrive in Ireland "very shortly", the Minister of State at the Department of Health has said.
Mary Butler said the Gazan children are expected to arrive "on a case-by-case basis depending on the capacity we have".
"We're not taking children with specialist orthopaedic needs because we don't have the capacity there ourselves," she said, adding the health system needs to "get through our own waiting list".
Speaking on RTÉ's Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin she said each child from Gaza will be "subject to the type of care that they need and the capacity that we have".
The Department of Health estimates "Ireland will receive up to 30 paediatric patients in total".
"The World Health Organisation requested the EU to activate the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) to facilitate medical evacuation to assist in addressing the current health needs in Gaza," it said.
"Ireland, as an EU Member State cooperated with the UCPM request and the first group of 27 people comprising eight paediatric patients with an adult carer and 11 other siblings were evacuated from Cairo in December 2024," it added.
Ms Butler said the eight children have "various health needs, including treatment for cancer, haemodialysis and a range of conditions".
"Some of the children are receiving outpatient treatment but there are some of them that need inpatient treatment," she said.
"They also need supports in relation to therapeutic and psycho-social care after the trauma that they had been through," she added.
She described the eight children as "only the tip of the iceberg".
Asked if the ceasefire in Gaza would make the journey easier compared to December, Ms Butler said: "I hope so".
She said it was because the previous scheme was carried out with "a lot of cooperation".
"The medical evacuation was with the assistance of the Slovakian government, the air transport was provided from the Egyptian government," Ms Butler added.
