Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The issuing of temporary medical cards is not to indicate that there is an expectation that this situation will go away tomorrow, the following day or even next year.

It is a mechanism by which medical needs can be met in an urgent fashion. No one is saying otherwise. Even if there is recovery from narcolepsy it will not happen this year or next, although I suppose we do not know that.

With regard to diagnosis and treatment in sleep clinics, there is no charge, and any charge applied will be reimbursed. It is essential that people know that. We are talking about a small group of people. There were 48 confirmed diagnoses of narcolepsy with an onset of symptoms following the Pandemrix vaccination. The Deputy is right in pointing out that the majority of these cases are in children or adolescents. Further possible cases are being investigated by both the Irish Medicines Board and the HSE.

One of the demands - I do not like to use the word "demands" because we have had good engagement up to this point, and I hope that will continue - is for the development of a national centre for narcolepsy treatment. That is under active consideration by the HSE and moneys have been set aside for the development of such a centre this year. Irrespective of whether the clinic providing the service is private or public, there is a reimbursement scheme in place for people who have to pay for treatment. I will convey to the Minister the concerns in regard to a package and the matter of a possible meeting. I cannot give guarantees in respect of those here but I clearly hear what the Deputy is saying.

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