I wish the very best of luck and good wishes to Senator Ahearn in his role as Leader of the Seanad.

Today, I remember the heavenly birthday of Rory Coady, the son of Craig Coady, who has been a campaigner on Friedreich's ataxia. He, along with 200 other families, are campaigning for a drug approval. They have now been waiting over 840 days for that drug to come through the assessment criteria. The drug company has submitted all of the most up-to-date information required by the HSE.

The Minister for Health has done phenomenal work in engaging in the launch of the review into the drug reimbursement scheme, as well as the review of the whole process. We are total laggards when it comes to how long it takes for a drug to be approved. It should be 180 days, but these families have waited 840 days so far. Time is muscle. Every day we are waiting, families can see their loved ones, their most precious, deteriorate. They do not know what the next day brings.

While it might not be perfect, we know that this drug has a 55% success rate and can hold the condition where it is at. It can prevent that child, who currently has the ability to walk, from progressing to a wheelchair. It means that the person who is in college can continue to live an independent life.

I know that people met the Taoiseach and that there was a commitment to have a decision at the end of June or the first week of July. I am calling for those dates to be held to and for the HSE to be put under pressure to deliver on this drug. A success rate of 55% is a hell of a lot better than no success.