Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that the cost of medicines is extortionate and that there is demand for them. We had the awful reality of the insured and the uninsured with the same life-threatening illnesses being treated differently. It is terrible for officials and doctors to have to weigh up the cost of medicine vis-à-visthe cost of a life and whose life means more and, therefore, gets the more expensive medicine. It cannot be a competition between, for example, a drug that will prolong a life for ten months and another that will prolong it for 24 months, as to which one we should choose. There should be equal access for everybody. A different approach to the pharmaceutical companies is needed at EU level, at UN level and nationally. I would be in favour of a working group here because there are practical suggestions being made that are achievable. Pharmaceutical companies provide jobs and corporate taxes. They are giving with one hand but what is the point in that if they are taking back with the other by charging Ireland and other countries so much more for medicines that should be much more reasonably priced. There is a more progressive model of research and development that is committed to access and affordability and that is what we need to pursue.

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