Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The real answer to my question was near the end of the Minister of State's response, when she said that "a significant body of work" needs to be undertaken and it will "require extensive consultation and primary legislation". Halfway through the life of the Government, if there is substantive work to be done, we really need to start doing it. That is the reality. If legislation and extensive consultation are needed, we are looking at needing a couple of years to do it when we are already halfway through the Government cycle. The message must go back to the Department of Health that we need to get real and that action on this issue needs to be instigated immediately.

I have looked at other responses that have been given to questions on this subject. I knew the Covid crisis would rear its head as an excuse at some stage. Surprise, surprise, there it is at the very end of the Minister of State's reply. However, the pandemic did not have an impact on some of the great announcements the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has made over recent weeks, including, for example, in respect of women's health services. Nor did it have any impact on this week's announcement of the expansion of the human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine programme in schools. When it comes to the issue of orphan drugs, however, the Covid crisis is given as a reason for lack of action. It is very frustrating to see the pandemic being used as an excuse in this regard.

As I said, we need to get real. We are talking about people's lives and their quality of life. The statistics I roll out every now and again about Ireland being a laggard in the European context should be a source of embarrassment to us nationally. Those statistics are referred to so often now that they roll off the tongue and seem to matter very little. It is embarrassing that Ireland, which is one of the largest pharmaceutical-producing nations in the world, ranks 24th out of 39 countries in Europe in terms of our provision of these drugs.

Provision regarding the health technology assessment, HTA, process is the substance of the Bill I am trying to progress. It is currently on Committee Stage. We are using an antiquated, outdated system and pretending it is achieving all these savings, as the Minister of State referred to in her response. The reality is Ireland spends a higher percentage in comparison with countries like Germany, Scotland, Sweden and many others on the drugs that are claimed through our reimbursement system. In those other countries, the medicines are supplied upfront, but we make patients wait a torturous 800 to 1,000 days. I would argue with the statistics claiming we are saving €700 million or €800 million because we are such great negotiators. It is a load of codswallop in my view.

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