Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
============================================================

Patrick O'Donovan (FG), Limerick County

I dtosach, ar son mo phairtí, Fine Gael agus ar son an Rialtais, déanaim comhbhrón le clann Paddy Cooney, a cailleadh i rith na seachtaine. He was a former Minister for Justice - I note a flag is at half-mast over the House today - a former TD for Longford-Westmeath and a former Senator. He was a great advocate in the Dáil for the people of Longford and Westmeath and did a huge amount of work to protect our democracy in the face of many people who sought to undermine and subvert it over many years. On behalf of my party and the wider Government, I extend my sympathies to the Cooney family. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.
Yesterday, the Taoiseach was asked about the issue Deputy Carthy raised. He gave a substantial answer with regard to what the Government has been doing over the past number of years, particularly in relation to health and social protection for those who are the most vulnerable. He outlined to the House, and I will use the opportunity to spell out again today, the supports the Government is giving to the least well-off and the most vulnerable in our society. He gave a lot of detail on the drugs payment scheme and how it operates. Under that scheme, cardholders and their families only have to pay a maximum of €80 per month for approved prescribed drugs and medicines. This has improved dramatically over the last number of years. The resources the Government has available to it, thanks to the economic growth that has been made available through the financial policies we have pursued, all of which have been objected to by Deputy Carthy and his party, has resulted in us being in a position to invest very heavily in the areas of health and social protection. Last week alone, the most vulnerable in our society saw the Christmas bonus start to be paid out.
In his response yesterday, the Taoiseach also acknowledged that for many people, and I have personal experience of this, the dispensing and taking of tablets on a daily basis is something that some people require assistance with. For some people who operate on their own, it can be quite daunting. The Taoiseach outlined yesterday that he believed there is still an opportunity for the HSE to engage with the Irish Pharmacy Union over the time ahead to see whether this issue can be further discussed. On the same lines as what the Taoiseach said, that opportunity is there. He outlined why he believes this is important, the importance of the drugs payment scheme and blister packs, and how they have supported people over many years.
The reality is that health now has the largest budget it has ever had. There is €27 billion in health for 2026. It is not an insignificant amount of money. I know the party opposite laid out its proposals with regard to health and social protection and a number of other areas, which did not include everything that the Government included, particularly in the area of social protection for budget 2026, yet it derided the Government for things it did include for social protection. The Taoiseach in his response yesterday outlined that the opportunity still exists for the HSE to engage with the Irish Pharmacy Union, and I expect that engagement to happen.

---

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/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11