Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I also welcome Senator Naughten to the House. It is great to see the Galway contingent within the Oireachtas growing. I can firmly attest that she served the city of Galway brilliantly during her term as mayor and as a city councillor. It is great to see more young female politicians in the House. I wish her the best in the remainder of her term here.

I wish to raise an issue that needs to be addressed by this Government when it comes to cash cows and the medical profession. I am led to believe that some time ago doctors negotiated a fee of €150 per prescription to dispense methadone to people who need it. I think we would all agree in this Chamber that this is a lot of money but what is even more outrageous is the fact that the amount remains the same for a repeat prescription. We must be mindful that Ireland has one of the highest numbers of heroin addiction cases per capita in Europe with between 8,000 and 10,000 methadone recipients in the State. Despite public perception of heroin abuse, it has become a very real problem in rural Ireland, affecting small towns and villages. In my own constituency of Galway, 131 individuals throughout the county subscribe to a methadone programme. The idea that doctors who provide a valuable service to the State and its citizens have negotiated a fee per prescription of this amount in the current economic climate is opportunistic in the extreme. It is quite clearly a large fee earner for GPs and the worst kind of money spinner. By allowing the situation to continue, we are permitting a situation where a prescription is more expensive than the product, which is ludicrous. Something needs to be done about this. I ask the relevant Ministers, including the Minister for Health, to come to the House to debate medical costs in this situation.