Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the cost of and access to medicines in Ireland. We pay six times the global average for generic drugs, that is drugs which are out of patent and can be produced for less than the original. I know many people who go on medical holiday to Spain with prescriptions in their pockets who return with six months of medicines for the same cost as two months here. Debate on this is ongoing around the cost, procurement and agreement we have. Today the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, is having a conference. It informed me that Irish patients must wait three times as long for the same medicines as patients in other European countries. Here it is an average of 843 days for 15 new medicines to be funded by the HSE compared with 289 days for patients in 14 referenced countries in Europe. We need a clear medical policy to help fix this access problem. The four-year agreement between the Government and the IPHA on drug prices ends next July. We look for an improved, transparent replacement that addresses the long wait as well as the cost of generic medication.