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

The Tánaiste referenced the number of staff that the State has put in, as one example. Despite the number of staff increasing from four to 30-odd at this stage, the length of time it takes to assess a drug is actually lengthening, not shortening, despite the additional staff. That is one point of clarity.

The Tánaiste also referenced the heel prick test. The decision to add those two extra conditions was made in 2022, as he said. That was largely down to Les Martin in Wicklow, a constituent of the Tánaiste's, who was right behind that campaign. That decision was made in 2022. Fast forward to 2025 and the two conditions referenced are still not being tested for despite them being recommended in 2022. It has not been implemented.

Within the health Act there are specific deadlines for the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, to make decisions. It is supposed to make a decision within 180 days. A recent report by the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, stated that 86% of all applications are not being dealt with within the legislative times provided for in the health Act 2013. Some 86% of all applications are going overdue.

The NCPE administers all this. The NCPE makes the decisions. I am not casting aspersions on anybody in that organisation. It has handled hundreds of millions of euro in taxpayers' money over the past decade but there is no oversight, no governance, no independent chair, no SLA, nothing. That was a recommendation in the Mazars report a number of years ago. That needs to be done. As I said, I am not casting aspersions on anybody, but a lot of taxpayers' money has been handed over.

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