Mr. John Hennessy:

In response to some of the points raised by Deputy O'Connell, I will now ask Mr. Flanagan to discuss the issues around prioritising rare conditions over more common ones, the justification for the cost factors, and the extension of patents for rare diseases. I would also like to clarify that while cystic fibrosis medicines are certainly extremely expensive, they do not quite amount to the annual cost of running a maternity hospital.