I attended the launch this morning of Rare Diseases Ireland's report, Ending the Wait: Actions to reduce the waiting list for Ireland's genomic service. I met patients who suffer from various retinal diseases, most of which lead to blindness, who hope a drug called Luxturna will be approved for reimbursement, an issue that has been raised in the House repeatedly. A total of 1,277 days later, we are still waiting for this process to conclude. I have repeatedly spoken to the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health about this. Any process that takes this time - 1,277 days as of today - is not fit for purpose. I ask the Tánaiste to give a commitment that the reimbursement process will be reviewed. We are miles behind other EU countries. Time lost is a diminution of somebody's quality of life and potentially his or her life. I ask the Tánaiste to take this issue up with the Minister and to address the problems concerning reimbursement.

My understanding is that the Minister for Health did address this issue at a conference recently and outlined initiatives he is taking, particularly following the publication of the Mazars report on this issue. There is a requirement for a review of this. That length of time is not optimal by any means.