Medicinal Products
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01
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Pádraig O'Sullivan (FF), Cork North-Central

I have asked many parliamentary questions on this over the past few years. Very little has changed. The only thing that gives me hope is that the company has since met the CPU and submitted a commercial offer that remains under consideration. I am not asking for special treatment for any drug. These are all subject to commercial sensitivity. I am asking for fairness. This process started in January 2023, so we are here three and a half years later. They should be given a final response one way or another. That is all I ask for, good, bad or indifferent at this stage. People need to be put out of their misery. We can go on about the savings achieved in that timeline because this drug was not made available. That is probably because people have died because of the lack of access to it, truth be told. Those are the facts.
I am not asking for special treatment. I have spoken consistently in the House about systems change. I hope to God the review the Minister commissioned brings the systems change I would like to see. Dozens of other countries do this in a better way than we do. We can continue to put up the front that we are one of the best at negotiating and we get the best price and the best value for drugs, but ultimately as a society we have to ask ourselves at what cost. Unfortunately, in this case it is at the cost of lives. I made a comment about the Skyclarys campaign. I know the Minister of State has to be careful what she says because it is due before the drugs group. I again make the case that these people just want a hearing as expeditiously as possible. Like I said, nine other European countries have approved that drug apart from the United States and a few other countries internationally. When are we going to step up to the plate with drugs like Skyclarys for Friedreich's ataxia patients? I know the Minister of State has constituents of her own and it is close to her heart.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-01