Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for bringing forward this legislation, which I very much welcome. Cork is hugely reliant on the pharmaceutical industry. Eight of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world are based in the Cork region, within a 50-mile radius of Cork city, which emphasises the importance of the industry to Cork. Anything that can help to copperfasten that industry and grow it further is welcome.

It is extremely important that there is certainty in legislation. It appears there was a question over the transposition of an EU directive whereby we did not cover all of the angles that had to be covered in terms of giving it the proper interpretation. When the directive was transposed in Germany it was given a wider interpretation, and that is what this amending legislation does. The issue in respect of research and development is very important. This country is lucky to be producing a huge number of well-qualified graduates and it is important that we do everything possible to keep them in this country. The only way to do that is to ensure we can grow the research and development sector. This is important legislation in that context.

An issue that concerns me is the establishment of the European patent court. I have commented on this previously. It has been decided that there will be one patent structure for 25 countries but my understanding is that the patent court would be located in the UK. I am aware we are setting up a local court here as well, which will feed into that. A proposal has been put forward to me by somebody who is expert in patent law and is strongly involved in it in Ireland. He previously worked with a big law practice and is now working in a private capacity as a counsel in our courts. The proposal is to set up a division of the court in the UK in this country, as opposed to a local patent court. The person made the point that there are strong grounds for doing that on the basis that as this is a common law jurisdiction, it would be very similar to the UK and there is no reason that a divisional court of the patent court based in the UK could not be established here. I have raised this matter with the Taoiseach, as we should not walk away from it. It is very important now because, although many people do not like to hear this mentioned, there is some uncertainty about the UK's plans regarding its involvement with the EU. It would be important from our point of view, therefore, to ensure that we can remove that uncertainty and that a divisional court of that overall court is based in Ireland. It is something we should consider.

The other issue I wish to mention follows on from what Senator Quinn said regarding cost effectiveness in our health service. Again, it is a matter I have raised previously and relates to haemochromatosis. I know somebody who is prepared to put in place a system whereby general practitioners could do the work that is now being done in the hospitals. All that is required is a research project with University College Cork, UCC, costing less than €25,000, but we cannot get the Health Service Executive, HSE, or the Department of Health to come on board. If somebody has haemochromatosis, which is an excess of iron in the blood, he or she must go to a hospital clinic to have blood taken once every three months. There is a cost factor in that. If they go to the clinic under health insurance, the health insurer is paying €300 to €400 for each visit. A number of GP practices in the Cork area are very interested in this and are prepared to provide the service for €100. The advantage is that not only is the patient not cluttering up outpatient services, but the service can be provided to a greater extent at a local level. This is something that involves a small amount of research but which could yield a good end result. I realise it is not the Minister's area of responsibility, but it is something that could be done. It is a very simple solution to that problem and we should use it.

There are many other good ideas, as Senator Quinn said. In the area of medicine and research, we should not ignore ideas when they are brought forward and we should not impose or create more paperwork, which appears to be what we are doing. Where there are simple solutions for problems we tend to put them on the back burner. This is something we should examine more carefully.

However, I welcome this legislation. It is good to provide certainty and this will help us to grow the research and development area further and, hopefully, grow the pharmaceutical industry in this country.