Medicinal Products
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-03
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Evanne Ní Chuilinn (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I know how busy the Minister is and I appreciate her coming to the Seanad today with that update.
The 180-day target is obviously a huge improvement on the 710 days, and even an improvement on European best practice. When does the Minister expect that to be met?
It is very easy for us to forget, when we are talking about these figures and price agreements, that a lot of the time we are talking about children, because a lot of rare diseases will present in childhood. The unpredictable nature of these reimbursement processes at times leads to conditions worsening in children and to unsettled times for families. It is important to remember that.
The Minister mentioned the rare diseases strategy. It is brilliant that the committee met in February, which is very recent. I thank the Minister for the update. There was disappointment to see very vague comments within the strategy in relation to access to orphan drugs. There was no mention of the reimbursement review, which is needed to identify the problems with the current criteria as they relate to orphan medicines.
With regard to the pricing agreement, the Minister mentioned the IPHA. I would point out that there are other industry stakeholders outside of the IPHA that have intimate knowledge of the reimbursement process given that their respective companies specifically and only manufacture and develop rare disease treatments. These stakeholders are very happy to discuss access to orphan medicines with Department stakeholders and the Minister. It is something to bear in mind.
Certainly, if it is a 180-day target, that is very positive. Does the Minister have any information on when that might be met?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-03/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-03