Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The very fact that the Minister is in the Chamber today shows his commitment and his concern for this issue of Orkambi. I compliment the Minister for being present because, very often, senior Ministers send along a junior Minister to one of these events. Clearly, he is concerned. Professor Michael Barry spoke on Morning Ireland about a week ago. It is an extremely difficult thing for a man in his position to come out and publicly explain why he cannot purchase a drug at the exorbitant cost that was being sought by the company, knowing in his heart of hearts that there are people listening who are desperate for this drug. It is absolutely terrible that a drug company played roulette with the patients they hope to serve. From that point of view, Professor Barry and his team deserve our admiration for the work they do.

The Minister touched on my concern in his presentation. My concern is that, when it suits us, we live in a single market and when it does not suit us or suit certain interests, we do not live in a single market. We operate as a single market for agriculture, fisheries and all sorts of things. The drug companies seem to be the difference. I met a colleague of mine from my old profession down in Lanzarote some time ago. He bought his blood pressure tablets for the year at a cost of €14.95. He told me that the same tablets were costing him more than €1,000 in Ireland. Ultimately, it was not costing him, but the State. I am delighted that the Minister is talking with his counterparts from all of the various jurisdictions that he gets the chance to talk to. The time has come for the European Commission to look at competition and to state that there is no competition in these situations. Drug companies, in effect, have monopolies until such time as the patent on a drug runs out or until a competitor develops a similar but slightly different product. I believe it is time the Commission tells the companies that if they want to deal in Europe, they must deal with Europe. The EU could then divvy the drug out to the rest of the European community. I believe that is the way it should be done.

Pricing should be done on the basis of a single market. I am sure the Minister is aware of the fact that we now have people in my age group and upward going on what they call their "medical holiday". They go to Spain to buy their drugs for the year. They take a week's holiday, fly Ryanair down to Spain and come back with change in their pocket from what they would have spent had they bought their drugs at home. That is not good. It is not good for the pharmacy industry in Ireland, for the people themselves or for the Department of Health. I am sure the drugs are the same in Spain, but we do not know that for certain.

The representatives of a drug company had the notion to tell our Minister for Health that they will negotiate with him but not with some second or third party. How dare they. Who do they think they are talking to? The Minister has rightly pointed out that this House and the Lower House have passed laws in this country. We have decided who will do our negotiating for us. We will stand over that, regardless of any pressure that comes on it.

Yesterday, I went out to the front gate to meet my sister, who had travelled from Galway with her husband and her two sisters-in-law. They had all taken a day off work and had lost money to come here. Thankfully, my sister's children are healthy, but her nieces and nephews were not and have passed away. Three different sides of my family have CF. If we look around Ireland, every family has been afflicted at some stage. It is almost as pervasive as cancer, to some degree. It is not something that we can take lightly and I do not believe the Minister is taking it lightly. I believe we need to send a message out from Seanad Éireann today to Vertex saying, "Guys, you either deal with us or we will turn the PR machine against you". The offer that has been made by this country is a reasonable one. Drug companies must be entitled to get a return on their investment and nobody is denying Vertex that. However, €75 million over three years is an awful lot of money. The offer that has been made is one that Vertex should grab with both hands. Let other drug companies learn from this. Ireland will not be bullied into paying exorbitant prices. I ask the Minister to go back to his colleagues in Europe, particularly to Commissioner Phil Hogan, to ask if something can be done to turn the drugs and medicine industry into a single market.