Ireland will pay for the European Health Insurance Card for citizens in Northern Ireland after Brexit if necessary, the foreign minister has said.

Simon Coveney, who also serves as the country’s Tanaiste (deputy to the Taoiseach) said his government will work to ensure that “Irish citizens in Northern Ireland continue to be EU citizens in all circumstances.”

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Mr Coveney said that while Irish citizens in Northern Ireland are EU citizens, they will not be resident in the EU after Brexit, “which obviously poses challenges.”

He explained: “In terms of the rights of EU citizenship, we are working, and have been working to ensure certain EU programmes and benefits – notably, the EU Health Insurance Card.”

The free European Health Insurance Card ensures that EU citizens have access to state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in any EU countries.

Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Show all 12 1 /12 Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry A garage door displaying unionism, bolted shut, like a visual representation of Brexit Britain, locked to outsiders, safeguarding what’s inside Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry Rossville Street, the site of Bloody Sunday, where messages demand a severance with England. From this perspective, Britain is England in sheep’s clothing, the real empire, the centre of colonial power Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Bangor A political message in paint not yet dry, still forming, setting, adjusting, or in old paint finally eroding, melting away Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Bangor Moral judgement frames a residential view. The message seeks to make everybody involved in the religious narrative: those who don’t believe are those most in debt Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Castlerock The beach is sparse and almost empty, but covered in footprints. The shower is designed to wash off sand, and a mysterious border cuts a divide through the same sand Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Belfast Two attempts to affect and care for the body. One stimulated by vanity and social norms and narratives of beauty, the other by a need to keep warm in the winter night Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Belfast The gate to an unclaimed piece of land, where nothing is being built, where no project is in the making, where a sign demands the creation of something new Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry Under a motorway bridge a woman’s face stares, auburn and red-lipped, her skin tattooed with support for the IRA and a message of hostility to advocates of the Social Investment Fund Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry The Fountain Murals, where the curbs and the lampposts are painted the red, white, and blue of the Union Flag. A boy walks past in the same colours, fitting the scene, camouflaged Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Coleraine A public slandering by the football fields, for all to see or ignore. I wonder if it’s for the police or for the community Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Belfast A tattoo parlour, where the artist has downed tools, momentarily, bringing poise to the scene, which looks like a place of mourning, not a site of creation Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry A barrier of grey protects the contents of this shop, guarding it from the streets outside, but it cannot conceal it completely, and the colours of lust and desire and temptation cut through Richard Morgan/The Independent

Mr Coveney said the Irish government “are working, and will ensure, that we extend that right to Northern Ireland. That will involve passing legislation here, and it will involve the Irish government, if necessary, paying for that insurance cover for citizens in Northern Ireland, in the same way as EU citizens would have.”

This marks the first time the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has committed to pay for the insurance for citizens in Northern Ireland, which The Irish Times says is estimated to cost around €4 million a year.

Mr Coveney said similar preparations are being made around the Erasmus+ programme, to ensure students in Northern Ireland “can continue to benefit from accessing universities right across the European Union.”

“We are working to make sure that the practical benefits that come with EU citizenship continue to apply to people in Northern Ireland, and if necessary, we will fund that.”

Mr Coveney also addressed wider concerns about the status of EU citizens in Northern Ireland after Brexit, and said the Irish government is actively seeking the outcome of a review into this issue which was promised to him by Theresa May in February.

He said: “We do expect the British government will follow through on both the language and the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, in terms of ensuring that there are no consequences or disadvantages for people, of choosing to be Irish or British or both.

“People in Northern Ireland should not be required to renounce Irish or British citizenship in order to access an entitlement. This question has specifically arisen in relation to immigration rules.”