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

Following on from the question posed earlier by Deputy Gino Kenny, my query concerns a related matter. I again raise the issue of rare diseases. Earlier this month, an article was published in The Lancet Oncologyreview journal by Professor Mark Lawler of Queen's University Belfast on Ireland's excessive waiting times for the reimbursement of the cost of medicines. Ireland's excessive approval times were compared with those in other countries, such as the UK and Germany. Accessing new cancer medicines here took an average of 20 months. In the UK, it took nine months, while in Germany, which admittedly has far greater resources, it took an average of four months. I know we have invested significant funding into the treatment of rare diseases over the last three budgets, and I hope this will continue in future, but it is the process here that needs to be overhauled. It is this process that I continually raise here. It is not the issue of funding that is the problem but of how we reimburse the costs of these medicines and how we can save people the agonising waiting times we have here.

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