Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Darragh O'Brien in everything he said. I will not repeat it. Nobody else should be silenced by the pretext that anybody now who speaks about Maíria Cahill is playing politics. That is insulting to politics, to democracy, and to everybody. Maíria Cahill, in her hour of need, turned to politics to try to do something when everybody had failed her. We will keep it on the agenda. It is not playing politics, it is answering the call of a woman who is in trouble. Every woman and every man who has spoken here has done that and we will continue to speak until justice is done. I support Senator O'Brien in what he said today. I will not say any more about it now but it will not go away if one does not talk about it and instead shoves it under the carpet. That is no way to deal with it and we will not fail Maíria Cahill in that way.

I would also like to speak about what Senator Crown spoke about, the hepatitis C drug. I have a plea from a constituent of mine, who asked me that the treatment for hepatitis C, Sovaldi, be made available. He gave me the cost of it and said it was a small cost to pay for his wife's life and is needed for her treatment. He asked me to speak to the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar. I only received that text yesterday. I know the Minister is considering the matter and I urge that the outcome of his investigations be positive. The cost is not prohibitive. It has just recently been recognised - and perhaps Senator Crown could elaborate on this - in the UK and according to a paper by the California Technology Assessment Forum there is a saving of 75% over 20 years. It is not just about today's cost, it is about tomorrow's savings. One cannot speak about life in terms of money. It has been proven in research to save lives. When one looks at the money, one must say that over 20 years if 75% of the patients in Ireland were treated, it would have a payback over that time and that is a small price to pay. Hopefully we can have a debate, as Senator Crown has called for, and I hope that the Minister would be able to address that as well.