Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Pádraig O'Sullivan (FF), Cork North-Central

Ireland's Presidency gives us a real opportunity to tackle an issue that matters greatly to patients and families across Europe, that is, access to innovative medicines. I recognise that pricing and reimbursement remain national competencies. However, there is clear scope for greater co-operation between member states. Joint clinical assessments are now a reality and earlier this year the first EU assessment of a cancer medicine, tovorafenib, for children with low-grade glioma was published, with Ireland's National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, acting as the assessor. The challenge is that a common assessment does not guarantee common access and patients' chances of receiving a life-changing medicine can still depend on where they live. So, while the aforementioned drug, with the NCPE acting as its assessor, was approved in principle, we still do not have an application here in Ireland. Therefore, patients here with that disease do not have access to the drug. With the new EU pharmaceutical package adopted this week and health Ministers meeting in Dublin to discuss access to medicines, Ireland now has an opportunity to lead on this issue. Given that the presidential programme identifies equitable access to healthcare as a priority, what specific outcomes does the Government intend to achieve during our Presidency to reduce the disparities?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29