Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right. The pharmaceutical sector is obviously of huge economic importance to our country. I hope and expect it will continue to be. So too is the benefit to patients, not just in Ireland but across the world. I agree with the Deputy that we should make it our business to be better in terms of innovative ways of accessing new medicines and willing to work more at an EU level with other member states in terms of joint procurement. Some of that has been done through the BeNeLuxA initiative, but probably not nearly enough. Who knows, perhaps we might even get to have a few Presidency-related meetings in Cork so that we can all experience in real time the very positive impact the pharmaceutical sector has had in terms of economic well-being, jobs and investment in that region.

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