Gino Kenny criticises inpatient charges, hospital parking and Vertex
Gino Kenny spoke on 22 Mar 2023 about inpatient charges, hospital car parking fees and delayed access to the drug CAF TRIO. He welcomed a bill to end inpatient charges, criticised hospital parking charges and condemned Vertex for delaying access to the drug.
Support for ending inpatient charges
He described the bill as progressive and long overdue, saying inpatient charges have not been conducive to a universal public health service. He argued these charges act as a barrier to access, create onerous bureaucracy, and lead to stressful debt collection by debt collectors that is inappropriate for a public health service.
Opposition to hospital parking fees
He said he could not understand why people must pay to park at hospitals, criticised high daily costs and noted that capped rates at the National Children's Hospital - 10 euros a day - still impose heavy weekly costs on families who must attend frequently. He stressed that when public transport is unavailable, charging for parking is particularly unfair.
Criticism of Vertex and CAF TRIO access
He welcomed that 35 children now have access to CAF TRIO but called it unforgivable that Vertex International delayed access for a year. He blamed the company rather than the government, saying Vertex dragged the HSE into protracted negotiations to extract higher payment and that the company has made 'obscene' billions from the drug while children were denied timely treatment.
Calls for lessons on reimbursement and access
He urged lessons to be learned on reimbursement processes so children are not denied medicines when needed and said such delays must not happen again. He emphasised the need to protect families from debt and to ensure universal healthcare remains accessible without punitive charges.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thanks Keann Comhairle, and I too like to welcome this bill, Minister, I think it's quite progressive, it's very, very long overdue, and we've always said that inpatient charges have not been conducive to a service of a public health service, a universal health service, and this has been very contentious in the last number of decades. And we've always argued that inpatient charges have been a kind of a barrier to many, many people gaining access to healthcare, and even the collection of these charges is a very onerous kind of task, it's a very bureaucratic task, and I don't think health service, public health service should be kind of chasing after people for inpatient charges. And obviously that has a very stressful kind of effect on people that have to access healthcare, and debt collection by debt collectors, you know, I just don't think that's acceptable, where people that have, you know, run up a bill, they can't work because of their illness, and debt collectors, kind of sending them letters, they may have just come out of a very, very serious illness, and that, again, is not conducive to universal healthcare and a very fair system. So I think this is welcome, and all these delcharges do have an effect on people trying to access healthcare in our country. Minister, just another number of things in relation to hospital car parking charges. I could never, never understand, nobody could ever convince me why people have to pay car parking charges in hospitals. I just don't see the logic in it at all. I really don't see the logic. Why people, when they go to a hospital, have to pay sometimes an enormous amount of money per week to park their car. Sometimes they have to, you know, they have to bring their car to a hospital. So I just don't get that. I just don't get it. If somebody, if somebody could explain to me why people have to be charged to go to a hospital, to park their car, sometimes public transport is not available, and then to be charged for that. And then it's disappointing that the National Children's Hospital, they have capped at 10 euros a day, but if you have to go to the hospital every day with your child, that's 50 euros over one week. I don't get that. Can you probably explain why that is actually being implemented in the National Children's Hospital in relation to the charges per day? And just the final thing, Minister, and I know you've referenced it earlier in your speech in relation to CAF TRIO. Now, there's obviously good news in relation to the 35 children that have access to that drug. Now, and I raised this with the Taoiseach today. I think it's unforgivable what that company done, Vertex International. They're a pharmaceutical company that are based in Dublin. To drag it out for one year, to deny them children that drug for one year is absolutely unforgivable. Giving Vertex pharmaceutical companies is based in Dublin, and the money they have made from that drug is obscene. It's absolutely obscene. They have made billions, not millions, billions of dollars in relation to that drug. Yet they dragged the HSE, and I don't actually blame the government on this, I actually blame the company, dragging this out to get more money from governments and families. It's unforgivable, Minister, and you'll probably agree with me that this should not have been dragged out for a year. Them 34 children should have got that drug when they needed it. It should have been, well, it's good that they have it now, but it's unforgivable that pharmaceutical companies have governments over a barrel in relation to price. Now, I know they have a monopoly on it, but it's unforgivable that the amount of money they have made of this drug alone is obscene. And hopefully this will never happen again, and there are lessons to be learned in relation to reimbursement, and children not being given a drug when they need it. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
