Medicinal Products
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

The Senator is right. It is important we get a timeline. There have been a lot of meetings, as the Senator heard from my response. The Minister is absolutely committed. I assure the Senator she appreciates the importance of ensuring patients with Duchenne in Ireland have access to the latest treatment. As a Minister of State in the Department of Health, I am very appreciative of this too and I do understand. The HSE has sole statutory responsibility for making decisions about which medicines are reimbursed.
The Government has been committed to investing in the medicine since 2021. The HSE has approved 250 new medicines and new uses for existing medicines. Two new framework agreements, in principle, have been reached with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, and Medicines For Ireland, MFI, regarding pricing and supply of medicines. As part of these agreements, the State, MFI and the IPHA have agreed to develop a future strategy partnership which will support the Department in developing a pilot early access programme focused on rare diseases, in line with commitments in the programme for Government. There are a few other rare diseases in Ireland. The Minister has committed to working on this. I thank the Senator for raising it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27