Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The answer is "Yes". We have allocated funding for MCAP this year for the first time. The Deputy has been a very strong advocate for this and he will be very aware that the programme has been in place for some time but there has never been any funding for it. This year we are allocating several million euro from the new drugs budget. We must wait to see what the uptake is. Several million euro will be allocated, so it is now a funded programme.

I am aware, as is the Deputy, there are some drugs, such as Bedrocan, that are not included in the programme. While much progress has been made, more is needed. We are aware that some of the products, such as Bedrocan, fall outside MCAP. Those who are using them, or their parents, are in an unenviable and unacceptable position whereby they are having to pay for the drugs upfront and then be reimbursed for them on a monthly basis. It is a huge amount of money. I have asked the Department to find a way to deal with this. One of the issues we have with Bedrocan, unfortunately, is around exporting from Holland. It is not that we do not want to do it; it is just that there are international constraints. We are working through them.

I am very aware that the MCAP will be very useful for people. We have put a multimillion euro funding package in place. There are other outstanding issues, such as the one I just discussed, that are causing real difficulty for people. This is a difficulty they should not have to experience. I am working in the background with the Department to put solutions in place to that.