Dr. Leisha Daly:

Deputy Kelleher asked about the manufacturing base here in Ireland and whether that has had an impact on prices or whether we are using that in some way. The Deputy acknowledged that our parent companies have significant investments in Ireland, unlike in other European countries such as Romania. That said, the methodology for pricing medicines in Ireland is completely independent. The Deputy will be familiar with the process of health technology assessment, whereby every patent-protected medicine that comes to the Irish market goes through a very rigorous cost-effectiveness assessment within the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE. Following that, there is an assessment of pricing based on a basket from nine countries mentioned earlier. While the pharmaceutical industry is a significant presence in Ireland, the methodology for pricing new medicines coming onto the market is a separate process, with independent assessment carried out by Professor Barry and his group in the NCPE.