Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. O'Brien and Dr. McLoughlin and their colleagues in the Department and the HSE.

I wish to comment on a couple of different areas regarding overruns.

The first is the issue of generic drugs. It has been clear for some time that the intended savings in this area have not yet been achieved. I would welcome if the witnesses could provide information on the reason for the delay in securing a new pricing agreement for drugs. Currently, approximately 17% of our health budget goes on drugs as compared to the 9% spent by the NHS. This is a long running issue on which people would have expected some movement. Perhaps one of the witnesses would explain the reason for the delay in securing the new pricing agreement.