Mr. Jim Breslin:

It would be useful for me to clarify the mandate that the people were working to because they have done the work against the mandate. When the €30 million was made available the mandate was to do State infected clients. We have done all that and have achieved a 98% success rate. There was a particular rationale for that decision because these people were infected by the negligence of the State and the State owed an extra responsibility to them to get this new drug to them in the first instance. That was the decision at the time.

The second element was based on clinical prioritisation to move beyond that group into the general population, so the priority was to give the drug to those who were sickest first. This was at a time when the drug was at its most expensive level. In fairness people have done that but they have also come back to say that with the drop in the price of the drug they could expand the programme and bring it to the community and mobilise the community to get more and more people involved, which is exactly what Deputy O'Connell is arguing for and where we are now and where we need to be to get to 2026.