Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Epidyolex is a cannabis-based medication used to treat particular types of severe seizures. I have been working with a young 14-year-old girl and her family for a long time on enabling her to get access to this life-changing medication. Her father has previously appeared on the media where he gave a heartbreaking description of his daughter's situation and how it has been made so much worse by HSE inaction and bureaucracy. This young girl has an aggressive form of cancer and as a result also suffers from drop seizures. As a result of the cancer she has had to have one of her legs amputated. She cannot use her prosthetic leg until her seizures are under control and she can have more than half a dozen seizures a day. The best medical advice is telling us that if she is given access to Epidyolex, this cannabis-based drug, she has the best chance of getting these seizures under control. I have raised the reimbursement of Epidyolex on numerous occasions in this House. I have tabled parliamentary questions for the Minister for Health and I have written directly both to the Taoiseach and to the Minister on this issue. Every time this issue is raised, the HSE come back with the same, standard, bureaucratic, kick down-the-road answer. Can the Taoiseach ensure that Epidyolex is reimbursed to the people who need it so badly?

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