Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Kieran O'Donnell that given the state of the nation's finances, the better value we can achieve in all services the better.

I refer to the prescription drugs issue. I acknowledge attempts are being made to tackle the difficulties associated with it. Prescription drugs account for 17% of the overall budget compared to 9% in Britain. The State pays 50% more than EU average. The troika has fingered us on this because it sees it as a saving that would impact positively on the people. The individual cost of some drugs in incredible. For example, a drug used to treat schizophrenia costs €99.89 in Ireland, while the generic version costs €4.10 in Britain. A sum of €1 million could have been saved in 2010 if generic cholesterol pills had been prescribed instead of a branded drug. Why is our drugs bill so high? Will the measures we are moving towards implementing lead to a significant improvement in reducing the bill? Will it be brought into line with that in similar EU member states?