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

I raise with the Taoiseach, as I have done here in the past, the issue of reimbursement in the context of how our system is antiquated and insufficient to deal with the needs of patients. Rather than talk about the process at this point, I would like to talk about the previous drawdown from the primary care reimbursement scheme, PCRS. To be fair to the Minister for Health, he has provided €100 million over the past three years specifically for new drugs in this space but, unfortunately, €30 million of that was meant to be drawn down in 2022 and, according to the PCRS, only €9.4 million was drawn down. There might be an accounting explanation for that or there may have been some kind of clerical error but aside from that, if they are the facts, I would like to know why, of the €30 million allocated, only €9.4 million was drawn down. Is the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics not approving enough drugs or is it not doing so quickly enough? If the Taoiseach could clarify the matter, I would appreciate that.

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