I wish to raise the issue of the Versatis pain patches debacle. Deputy Micheál Martin raised this issue on Tuesday only to be told by the Taoiseach that a process of appeals has been put in place. I have examples of specific cases. In one such case a person in Mallow named Catherine Carroll has gone through the appeals process. As we speak, she is in excruciating pain such that she has said, "It’s gotten to the stage where I’ve asked the doctor is it possible to cut off my nerve endings, because, even though I’d end up paralysed, at least I wouldn’t be in pain". That is a real person. I ask the Minister, Deputy Harris, if the Government will give time in this House to further discuss this issue. People have gone through the appeals process and been rejected. They have nowhere else to go to alleviate their pain. It is still very much a live issue. My request is simple. We need to have further deliberation on this issue. There were some deliberations on it in the Seanad yesterday but we need to have the Minister before the House because there are further questions to be answered on behalf of people such as Catherine Carroll. She is not an outlier or exception, rather she is within the range of patients who are suffering.

I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising that important matter. Obviously the ordering of business is a matter for the Business Committee. I have no difficulty with further debate or discussion in this House. There has already been discussion at the Joint Committee on Health, in which I participated. There was also discussion in the Seanad yesterday in which my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, participated. I must make the point, however, that this is a clinical decision. It has been made by clinicians in the medicines management programme of the HSE. I would like to make it clear that there is a process for GPs to appeal. These are real people too. More than 850 people who do not have shingles have now been approved, which means that more than a third of people have been completely approved. This is about the appropriate use of a medication which, in the view of the doctors and clinicians who advise me, can cause adverse effects if inappropriately used. I want to see compassion and common sense prevail. If it has not in respect of the case the Deputy raised, I would be happy to discuss it with him further.