David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dr. De Block to the meeting and she is very welcome. I thank her for the presentation. Nobody here believes there is a miracle solution or a magic wand but we are looking at how to improve the reimbursement system in Ireland. Looking at all the data, Ireland lags far behind the EU's top performers in the reimbursement of orphan medicines that are EMA-approved. That is consistent when we look at tables over the past ten years in particular. There is clearly a problem with our system.

My questions relate to the Irish system and how it compares with systems in the EU. Has Dr. De Block studied the Irish system itself? How does she see the reimbursement system in Ireland comparing to systems in the European Union generally? How does it compare with the reimbursement system in Belgium?