Mr. Jim Breslin:

I do not have a running total for the GP contracts. I could try to draw up an estimate based on the hours. I have a sense of how much diligent engagement is taking place in this regard. On the HSE side, the engagement is led by an assistant national director who has years of experience in contract negotiations. On the Department of Health side, it is being led by a senior official. There have been weekly meetings over the relevant period. At one stage, I had a running total of the number of meetings. I can get that for the Deputy and share it. There is extensive engagement and further extensive engagement is planned across the coming weeks. There are regular contacts as part of the working process that is under way.

After the Health Products Regulatory Authority published its report on compassionate access to cannabis in February, the Minister established an expert group chaired by Dr. Máirín Ryan of the Health Information and Quality Authority. There is significant clinical involvement in the group, which has been developing operational, clinical and practice guidelines to guide access to the programme. The group has conducted a targeted consultation on its draft guidelines and is due to finalise those guidelines shortly. In parallel with that, officials from the Department of Health are working on secondary legislation to underpin the programme. We do not believe primary legislation will be required. We are also working on the logistics of sorting suitable supplies of cannabis-based products. If the programme is to work, we will need to have a proper supply chain for cannabis-based products. All of those initiatives are under way at the moment.