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

I am going to cut to the chase because I have a whole two and a half minutes to speak on this topic. I will focus on the availability of drugs, specifically new drugs, right across Europe. We all know the positive nature of what the European Union has contributed to Ireland but there is one glaring area I would like to highlight.

Free and borderless travel is available to us and it is the same with regard to doing business but unfortunately when it comes availability of drugs for people's healthcare, we still face many barriers. Every year, dozens of drugs are approved by the European Medicines Agency, EMA. One would think that it would naturally follow on that each member state would subsequently approve those drugs but unfortunately, as I have raised here previously, in Ireland it takes on average two to three years to approve such drugs. The ultimate answer to this question is a pan-European solution where, once the EMA approves a drug, it would be available in all member states. Unfortunately, that is not the case today.

Data were published today regarding cancer drugs. They were reported on RTÉ Radio 1 earlier. Only 25% of new cancer drugs available EU-wide have been available in Ireland since 2020. In the case of orphan drugs and rare diseases, only 14% of those drugs are available here in Ireland. That is a glaring area where we need to do better as a country. As I said, boundaries between member states have not been an inhibitor to trade, travel and finance. I do not understand why they are an inhibitor to people's healthcare. I know of two families in Cork, one of which has moved permanently to Hamburg to go with their child and ensure they get access to the drug they need. A second family is now living in the North for similar reasons. That is unacceptable. In the programme for Government, there is an allowance to explore the idea of early access and shared risk agreements with industry, and that is where we need to be not just as a nation but as a European Union.

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