Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am in the committee's hands. I will deal with any of these issues as they are very fair. The issue of timing is specific to section 4. Deputy Kelleher is correct that there is no defined timeline. It would not be reasonable to have precise timelines and Deputy Kelleher would not expect us to legislate for them. The section provides that the board "shall" act as soon as is practicable, which is a strong mandate to the board to do this work. The section provides that the board will publish the list of medicinal products in respect of which it is satisfied in accordance with section 5. The board has very careful, analytical work to carry out based on the principles set out in section 5, which are extremely important and at the heart of the issues raised by Deputies Mitchell O'Connor and Dowds. This is not a charter for cheap drugs as may have been suggested. It is far from that.