Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I thank Senators Mark MacSharry and John Crown for their contributions. Senator Mark MacSharry opened the debate by acknowledging the work done at the coalface of cancer treatment by Senator John Crown and others. I am not sure everyone has such a capacity and it must be readily acknowledged. There are ongoing negotiations on new drugs and budgets are being put in place to ensure benefits can be gained from new developments. However, the Senators will acknowledge that there are new drugs which come on the market which are of no greater benefit than older drugs.

I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly. The Government does not intend to accept the Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012. However, I congratulate both Senators for raising this important subject which is worth debating. Debates such as this bring us a step forward.

The Bill would give responsibility for decisions on the availability of cancer drugs to the EMA, an external agency.