Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

In answer to the question about the chief pharmacist — until we can pay a public sector salary commensurate with what the market regards as reasonable we will find it considerably difficult. This has been the experience when the Department recruited some professionals in recent times. It is a real issue because of the salaries being earned in the private sector. In some of these areas we rely on retired persons coming back on a part-time consultative basis. I am currently in discussion on the matter and I hope to be able to say something about it later.

The drug industry is not quite like the market elsewhere in that prices are negotiated with governments which can vary from one country to another. This is unsatisfactory mainly because there are unique suppliers of particular products. I am not aware of the specific shortage to which the Deputy refers. It may have been brought to the attention of the Department but it has not been brought to my attention with regard to any specific drug. For a country like ours, for example, in the case of the influenza pandemic, it was much more attractive for us financially to join the UK in dealings on the H5N1 vaccine than to seek to negotiate ourselves, as a small country with a small population, with the supplier of the vaccine. That is often the story where small populations are dealing with large companies and real issues are involved.

The purpose of the contract is to guarantee supply of medicines. Clearly, unless we can move to prescribing more generic drugs, we will not be able to afford many of the new treatments. The new breast cancer drug, Herceptin, which cuts of the supply of blood to the tumour, costs about €20,000 per patient per year over a five-year period and is being prescribed in Ireland. We want ensure that patients have access to such drugs and any other drugs that can greatly assist, but the quid pro quo would have to be to try to get savings when drugs go off patent and more prescribing of generic drugs where possible.

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