I join Senator Bacik in welcoming the Minister's decision not to destroy the Guthrie card records and the newborn heel-prick blood samples. I thank all my colleagues who have raised the issue in recent months.

I raised the matter on the Adjournment in early February. At that time the Minister and the Department were not for moving. We all can play a part in influencing policy. This is a welcome policy-decision change and it is the right decision. I also thank the media for giving space to highlight the issue and showing that there is a significant advantage in retaining this valuable information of over 1 million heel-prick test or Guthrie cards. A proper structure should be put in place to ensure that the data is properly protected. I welcome the change by the Minister and the Department.

While on health issues, I ask that we have a debate on the issue of the cost of medication and drugs. We have already seen two comprehensive reports on one of the national newspapers. It compared the cost of drugs in this country and in other countries and reported they were 25 times dearer here than in the UK. It is time we had a detailed debate on this issue, particularly now that we are seeing a difference in price not only between this country and other countries, but between different areas of the country such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, and even within cities and towns. The cost of drugs in this country increased from €574 million in 2000 to €1.894 billion in 2010, a 230% increase. They will cost us €2 billion this year. It is time we had a serious debate on this issue and worked towards bringing down the cost of medication and drugs in this country to make them affordable for citizens and to ensure that there is a proper pricing system.