Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Health the discussions his Department has had with representative groups in relation to a new agreement for supply of drugs to the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13089/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department, together with the HSE, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Office of Government Procurement, entered negotiations with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) in recent months with a view to securing an agreement that would:

- significantly reduce the price of medicines to the Irish taxpayer;

- reduce growth in the drugs and medicines bill to an affordable level; and

- allow the HSE to invest in new and innovative medicines over the next four years.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and I have formally briefed Government on these negotiations. The State team concluded that the potential of the current negotiation process had been exhausted and that the value of the best offer from the IPHA fell substantially short of what would be needed to satisfy the State's strategic requirements.

In the absence of an agreement with IPHA, the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 is available to the HSE to determine reimbursement prices.