Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am really disappointed the Minister of State will not accept these amendments. The object, which we all want, is to get good value for the health service but one must look at the totality of this. I mention the impact on the State if it runs into difficulty. European countries have specifically excluded epilepsy and treated it differently. The Moran report recommended excluding it. We should consider the prospect of somebody losing his or her job and becoming dependent on the State, hospital treatment, risk to life, loss of independence because of not being able to drive and the side effects people experience when they change medicines in that they sometimes require medicines to offset the side effects of the new drug. Certainty is absolutely critical.

There is not even a saving to the State - in fact, it could cost the State. It does not achieve what it sets out to achieve. Most general practitioners would be unaware that they should write on a prescription that a substitution should not be provided, although this debate has probably been helpful from that point of view. The one way to achieve certainty is to exclude epilepsy drugs from this generic initiative. That would give the certainty all of us on this side of the House seek. It makes financial sense in terms of society's response to managing a condition which is possible to manage in most situations.

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