Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In his budget speech, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, allocated €30 million for new drugs to ensure our citizens have access to the best high-tech drugs available globally. I have made the case that Epidiolex should be reimbursed by the HSE numerous times in the House. It is a life-saving cannabis-based drug that can prevent serious seizures in certain cases. I have been working with the parents of a young girl, Lauren McGrath, for the past 18 months to try to get this expensive life-saving medication covered by the HSE. The bureaucratic answers I have received time and again are frustrating in the extreme, while a young girl and her family are going through a horrendous time. Now that €30 million has been made available, I appeal to the Government to ensure sign-off is given to the reimbursement of Epidiolex.

See this speech in context