Teresa Costello (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his answer. With regard to the questions that I asked, is the pathway through the North a realistic option? It has been flown, so to speak, as a bespoke pathway. At present, there is a delay somewhere because the NCPE is waiting for a HTA to be submitted while the manufacturer is telling me it has a meeting next week. These are children whose parents sat in the room with the Minister. Those children will not qualify for this drug if this takes the timelines it normally takes. Even with the best will in the world of it moving fast, we are sitting on our laurels for a month here. That is one month gone. That is children failing.

Where is the delay coming from? Why has this HTA not been submitted and why is work not going on? I am reading about extra staff being allocated. I would understand if it takes overtime to get this moved as quickly as possible. To be honest, we do not have until Christmas. There are little children whom I have met and seen and I will not be able to look their parents in the eye if I have been working on this and those children do not qualify for that medication. It needs to be done quickly.