Mr. Philip Watt:

That is a fantastic question. My sense, and the committee will probably hear this from the representatives of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and the HSE later, is that some positive things have begun and we welcome those. They include the BeNeLuxA initiative and the rare disease technology review committee. They are moves in the right direction. Professor Michael Barry would probably say that we need to tweak the system rather than reform it. We are saying we need to go a little further than that. What we are asking the Government to do is set out an overall policy position which would cover everything, not just the minute detail of appraising a particular drug, representation on one or two committees and so forth. It would look at the entire process and, indeed, the cost, because we see it from the committee's perspective as well. These drugs are a horrendous price. We would all say that we will put on our Irish jerseys and support the Government to get the best and fairest price it can for these drugs. However, that entails us working together in a more partnership way than has been the case up to now. Certainly, the last thing we want to do is what Cystic Fibrosis Ireland had to do which was protest outside the Oireachtas. We would far prefer to see the system being reformed. It is going in the right direction but it must be far more comprehensive than it has been to date.