Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To the first question, Ms Twomey and others were having to go to Holland to secure things. The first thing I wanted to make sure was that stopped. I have given a commitment directly to Ms Twomey and I am happy to repeat it here on the floor, that would not happen again. We have a system in place whereby the pharmaceuticals are being hand-delivered to the door. That is the first thing and it is important. As the Deputy said, these things are not cheap. Using the Deputy's figures, if it were €9,000, for example, every quarter for any family, it would be nearly €40,000 for the year.

That cost gets covered by the State. Second, there should not have to be a prepayment for it. I can assure the Deputy, and Ms Twomey has been assured, that significant work has been going on in this regard. It is my intention that Ms Twomey and other families will not have to pay up front. We needed to establish why it was happening in the first place. There were technical reasons, which I can share later with the Deputy. However, I can give a commitment that we are moving as quickly as possible to stop the prepayment requirement because I do not believe it is acceptable. It is my intention to solve it.

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