Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Health. I have not yet had the opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment. I hope he has more fortune than his predecessor, a colleague of ours in the county of Fingal.

I concur completely with Senator Gilroy in respect of the matters he raised with regard to mental health services. The House will engage in a debate on that matter shortly. I do not have time to go into detail but I have raised various issues relating to mental health services on numerous occasions in the House.

I have been awaiting the opportunity to raise two matters with the Minister directly. The first of these relates to the multiple sclerosis, MS, drug Fampyra. There are 1,500 MS sufferers in this country and the HSE has been assessing the use of this drug - which costs only €270 per month - in respect of them. Fampyra gives certain people afflicted with MS greater mobility. The HSE has been assessing it since 25 July. There are women I know who are no longer at work as a result of the fact that they cannot access this drug. I ask the Minister to use his good offices by talking to the HSE and getting it to approve both the use of this drug and its inclusion on the drug payment scheme.

The second matter to which I wish to refer is the plight of home help workers. These people are entitled to four and a half weeks gratuity per year of service on foot of two Labour Court recommendations.

I wrote to the Minister's predecessor, Deputy James Reilly, on 12 separate occasions in that regard. I refer to low paid workers whom the Minister will agree provide a very important front-line service in the health service. They are so important to the system but they are unsung heroes. They work in groups, the majority of which are funded by the HSE. The Labour Court recognised their entitlement to the same pension entitlements and in lieu of that, they were twice in the Labour Court. Two Labour Court recommendations granted them four and a half weeks per year of service as a gratuity. Many of the workers are on the minimum wage. I ask the Minister to urgently address the matter. I have written to the Minister twice but I do not know whether he has seen the letters. This is not a hill of beans in the scheme of things. The Minister is seeking an extra €500 million this year. On a countrywide basis it would probably cost approximately €8 million to address matters. The workers are due the money and should be paid it forthwith. If possible, I would welcome an update from the Minister this evening. The workers were promised they would be paid the moneys in 2012 but that did not come to pass. They should at least be given a timeframe for when the entitlements will be paid to them.

I would also appreciate an update on the situation with Fampyra or Fampridine, as it might be known in the Department, which has been a successful drug for MS sufferers. There are many other issues I could raise with the Minister but it is not possible to do so in the allocated three minutes. I raise issues on a daily basis in the House and I am sure the Minister is aware of them, but they are the two specific points I wish him to address this evening.