Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. One would think I would get it right at this stage, having been here for four years, but I am still learning. Every day is a schoolday.It is a very serious issue and we should not stand over cuts to Rape Crisis Network Ireland. Many Senators from across the House have put their names to this motion and I thank them for doing so. The Leader should accept it.

I looked back at my file and saw that I have been raising the issue of the MS drug Fampyra since February 2014. I have been writing back and forth to the Minister for Health and to the previous Minister and have raised the issue on numerous occasions in this House, as have Senators Craughwell and Barrett. Other Members of this House, including my colleagues, have raised it. After 18 months or more of raising this issue, Fampyra is not available to 3,000 MS sufferers who benefit from this drug. This is a drug that improves people's mobility and has allowed people to go back to work. It costs approximately €270 per month. The Leader has given responses before, that had been given to him by the Department of Health saying that it was assessing the situation and the drugs company was going to send in another submission, which it has already done. That goes back to April and May 2015.

We marked World MS Day on 27 May. The day is about access to drugs and how we can improve the quality of life of people with MS yet the country, Government and Department do not allow 3,000 people who benefit from this drug to access it. A man in my constituency who brought this matter to my attention is no longer working. He is back in a wheelchair. I have heard numerous cases. The Minister and the HSE know all about it because people are writing to the Minister telling him that they can no longer work, drive a car or walk. They are telling him that they can no longer do the basic things because the Minister will not allow them access to a drug that is proven to work for about one third of MS sufferers. I again ask the Leader to use his good offices to get back in touch with the Minister, whom I e-mailed again last week and the week before. I have been writing to him and the Department since February 2014 but have been getting nowhere. It is not right and is bureaucracy gone mad.