Medicinal Products Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-21 ============================================================ Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel This matter kind of explains itself. I thank the Minister of State for being here. The ask is that Mounjaro be included in the long-term illness scheme through the medical card. I was contacted by a constituent in my home county, Mayo, whose husband has unfortunately been sick since 2010 and is a cancer survivor. His health is declining and the cancer treatment has caused a number of severe side effects. He is unable to work and his wife is his full-time carer. They have two teenage children. There are a lot of pressures on the family. He requires a lot of medication each day. Thankfully, many are covered by the medical card scheme under the long-term illness plan. However, he has type 2 diabetes and suffer from severe side effects taking Ozempic. As a result, he has been forced to take Mounjaro injections instead but they are not covered by the plan. The family was able to manage this previously by crossing the Border and buying it in Northern Ireland. That was their workaround because it is more expensive here than it is up North. It is costing them €600 in the Republic versus about £400 in the North. The rules have changed, however, which means that they can no longer buy Mounjaro in Northern Ireland and have to buy it in the Republic. This is costing them about €600 per prescription and is putting huge financial pressure and a burden on this couple and their family. While, as I already mentioned, it is welcome that certain elements are included in the long-term illness scheme through the medical card, it is a loophole. Can it be included? If there are reasons the computer says "No", is it possible for it to be included in instances where there are side-effects from the patient taking Ozempic? I would welcome the Minister of State's consideration of it, in the interest of helping a family in need. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-21