Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

It is always good to see the Deputy on a Thursday. I take the fact that she is here as a sign of her seriousness on this issue. I mean that genuinely. I thank her for that. I also take the seriousness of the issue. There is no disagreeing. We can use different words to describe this situation but there is no disagreement that it is a very worrying and stressful time for these families. That is a statement of fact. It is also a statement of fact that the process - and the Deputy knows it very well - is clear in law as how this goes. It is not a question of the Government stalling, or me, anybody over here or over there stalling. The process is very clear. The HSE drugs group looks at this. If the HSE drugs group feels it can benefit from the expertise of people in rare diseases - the people who treat the very patients the referenced - they bring in those experts and the patient voices in a short time of four weeks and they get the best available evidence in terms of the effectiveness of the drug. That is an appropriate thing to do. The Deputy referenced summer recess. I do not want anyone at home to think that there is any effect, with the Dáil not being in session. This is a HSE drugs group led by clinicians.
I wish to make a broader point because we-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-16