Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree that is it important that new medicines and therapies be available to patients. There was simply no new development funding this year. For the past few years, there has been significant new development funding for new medicines. There has also been a much better working relationship between the State and the pharmaceutical industry in recent years. While there is no new development funding for medicines, there are savings that we can find through the existing spend. We spend a great deal of money on medicines. The latest figure I recall is approximately €3.2 billion. The officials can correct me if I am wrong.