Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I welcome the witnesses. There is no doubt they have not been treated fairly, and if they were looking for a whole lot more money, they might have got more fairness by now. It is all very well to speak about fairness and justice, and the witnesses have been denied both, but they can be assured they are not alone in this. Many people have been denied fairness and justice in this country over the years. The truth is the amount does matter to the State and the Government of the day. Before any legislation can come to a committee for amendment, a money message, which is a financial resolution, must be delivered, which states more or less the Government is okay with the fact it will cost a certain amount of money and it has an estimate of what this would be. Do the witnesses have the potential to be able to tell the State how much it could cost as a minimum and maximum? Can they put a figure on it, because the State will want to know? To say this should not be the case is true, and I agree. The witnesses should not have to do it, but to get it past the Government of the day it would be helpful if a maximum figure could be put on it as to how much it would cost the State, because it wants to know. We can ask ourselves whether a price can be put on a drug that will give someone an opportunity who has problems to live with dignity. The State will only pay so much, and there will be a figure above which it will not go, and this is the sad reality of life. Do witnesses have the wherewithal to be able to tell the State it will not cost any more than a particular amount?