Medicinal Products
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

With respect, that does not cut it for these families. These parents are looking at their children in a race against time. The case of Diarmuid is an example. His mother said that Diarmuid's brother, Nathan, has the same condition. Nathan has had access to the drug through a UK trial for more than ten years but Diarmuid is approaching the age where he is likely to lose mobility. She asked me to imagine being a mother opening the fridge every day to give her eldest boy this life-changing medicine and not giving it to her other little boy. She asked me to imagine the turmoil that causes her day after day. She said she met the Minister for Health and a promise was made to allow compassionate access that would be fast-tracked for her child. She says time is not on her side. The case of Aaron, a young boy of nine years of age, is the same. He was walking when people were pleading with the Government last year and now he is in a wheelchair, not knowing, even if the drug is approved, whether he will be able to access it. This is not good enough.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-13