EU Presidency
Dail Éireann — 2025-02-11
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Pádraig O'Sullivan (FF), Cork North-Central

I appreciate the Minister making those suggestions. Maybe I can throw one in as well. The Polish Presidency is in place at the moment and it, as the Minister said, has understandably prioritised security and defence, the protection of people and borders, resistance to foreign interference and disinformation and so on. It has prioritised the issues that are most pertinent to it.
When the Irish Presidency starts in 2026, I would like to make the case for our pharmaceutical industry, in particular. It is important to us in the south. I have discussed with the Minister on numerous occasions rare diseases, orphan drugs and how we improve accessibility to drugs for patients. We seem to be caught in an archaic system. Regarding the proclamations that have come from the United States in recent weeks, in terms of possibly putting tariffs on the pharma sector, I would like to highlight that as part of our list of priorities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-02-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:00:55+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-02-11