Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, for his presentation. As he knows, I come from County Louth, which is a Border county that has a close relationship with Newry. It is a 15-minute drive from Dundalk to Newry. The Minister spoke earlier about the difference in the price of prescribed drugs between the North and the South. My constituents contact me on a regular enough basis about this issue. They are concerned because vast price differences leave them with no option other than to travel to the North to purchase drugs. They have noticed lately that pharmacies based in Newry are now advertising in the South of Ireland.

I know this matter has been examined by the Joint Committee on Health and Children. Would it be possible for this committee to consider whether it has an opportunity to work with pharmacies from both North and South? Perhaps we can pool our resources together to reduce the cost of drugs. As the Minister knows, we have come out of a recession. I have always said I firmly believe that one's health is one's wealth in life. One can have lots of money in the bank, but that does not matter if one does not have one's health. As the Chairman said, the Government has done a fantastic job over the last four or five years in reducing the cost of prescription drugs. It is an awful shame that people from my local area have to cross the Border and that people from the far side of the Border have to come to our area to advertise their drugs at a cheap price.

The Minister knows that I am the Joint Committee on Health and Children's rapporteur on the issue of obesity, which we have discussed on many occasions. I would welcome an opportunity for the North and the South to work closely together to try to combat the current epidemic, which is very serious for children and adults. At a time when we are trying to cut back on costs, we should reflect on the link between obesity and heart problems and diabetes, etc. Obesity has an impact on every organ of one's body. Is there anything we can do to help the Northern side in that regard?