Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. There is great representation from County Louth here today, including my two previous colleagues on Louth County Council. It is very good to see Mr. Markey here today.

My question, which was touched on by Senator Blaney a little while ago, relates to how we directly fix the democratic deficit that we have in Northern Ireland at the minute. Do we put forward proposals for representation on the European Committee of the Regions, or appoint a special rapporteur or person who will be a representative of Northern Ireland at European level? There is a very significant problem there. The protocol may be fixed, for want a better description, because of that.

Returning to what Mr. Markey has said on vaccines and orphan drugs, we are talking about the economies of scale on orphan drugs. Ireland is small and it is very hard to get very specific drugs into this market. We have heard of terrible business cases from the HSE and we are not giving these drugs to our children. How can the European Parliament help at European level to get orphan drugs into every single country in the European Union?