Written answer
Health Services
Calls to raise rare-disease medicines funding to €200 million were met with details of €217 million overall medicines investment and HSE assessment procedures.
3335. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Health to urgently increase the annual drugs budget that includes all cancer drugs from 4 billion euros to 4.2 billion euros so that the annual drugs budget for rare diseases can be increased from 30 million euros to 200 million euros per annum, as such a measure will save lives and significantly enhance the quality of life of many patients with rare diseases; and will the Minister make a statement on the matter. [61213/26]
Comment on this
3337. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Health to increase the annual drugs budget for all cancer drugs from €4 billion to €4.2 billion to increase the annual drugs budget for rare diseases from €30 million to €200 million per annum to save lives and significantly enhance the quality of life of patients with rare diseases such as people living with Friedreich's ataxia in Ireland. (details supplied). [61218/26]
Comment on this
I propose to take Questions Nos. 3335 and 3337 together.
The Government is committed to investing in new medicines. Budget 2026 allocated €217 million additional investment in all medicines, including €30 million in funding specifically for new medicines. This has, as of June 2026, delivered access to 30 new medicines, including 7 for rare diseases.
The HSE in its decision making considers the 5-year budget impact of each new medicine notwithstanding that the budget of the HSE is set on an annual basis. The year 1 costs of most medicines represent a fraction of the overall costs of those medicines when fully introduced. The HSE is committing all resources as allocated to the provision of new medicines over time, notwithstanding any inter-year variations.
Funding for current expenditure, including medicines, is allocated on an annual (single-year) basis through the Estimates process with future levels of funding considered as part of the national estimates and budgetary process.
The HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines under the community drugs schemes, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. HSE decisions on which medicines are reimbursed by the taxpayer are made on objective, scientific and economic grounds, on the advice of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE).