I am grateful for the permission to raise this matter. I do not intend to take my full 20 minutes but if Deputy Desmond is in the House I propose to allocate to him a few minutes of my time.
The problem of coeliac disease is one which affects a relatively small number of people in our society. On the best advice available to me, the estimated number of sufferers from this disease in this country is about 2,000. The Irish Coeliac Society have made attempts from time to time, unavailingly, to get various administrations to add coeliac disease to the list of diseases for which free medical care is given. The question I raise this evening, for which the Tánaiste as Minister for Finance, is responsible, is the added burden on coeliac sufferers and on the parents of coeliac sufferers, many of whom are children, caused by the application of VAT to certain foodstuffs which these adults and children need.
Not long ago in the Dáil I asked the Minister for Finance about this matter. He pointed out that food as such was free of VAT and, as far as he was aware, there were only a small number of substances of a biscuit type which might come under the heading I described which were liable for VAT. The Minister invited me to make further inquiries in the matter and come back to him. In a sense this is what I am doing. I have made further inquiries and I am coming back with an appeal to him to review the situation.
As things stand at present, it imposes hardship on many people. There are a number of substances consumed by sufferers from coeliac disease which are available, to the best of my knowledge, only in chemist shops. These are particularly beneficial in that the gluten element to which coeliac sufferers are allergic is removed. They are largely wheat or wheat products. They are very basic products. From inquiries I have made, they include among others the following list of substances: spaghetti, macaroni, a mixture for crumble for fruit pies, bread, flour, Liga biscuits and other biscuits made by other manufacturers which are similar to those made by the Liga company. On account of the very high technology needed to extract the gluten from these products they are very expensive. A pound of macaroni of this kind costs £1.45p which is considerably over the cost of the normal substance in a supermarket. The normal substance in a supermarket is not available to a sufferer from coeliac disease. The irony is that the supermarket macaroni is, as a food not subject to VAT whereas this special gluten free substance purchased in chemist shops, because it is regarded more as a medicament, apparently is subject to VAT.
The problem in relation to this is that the cost of the substance concerned is not readily recoverable by the coeliac sufferer or by the parent of a coeliac sufferer. Coeliac sufferers who have medical cards are entitled to medical services free. Those not entitled to medical cards are entitled to refunds for purchases over approximately £7.50 a month. In both of these cases, unless I am mistaken, the free medical services for medical card holders and the refunds for non-medical card holders only refer to prescribed items. These items do not need a prescription. They are an essential part of the normal diet of coeliac sufferers. They are extremely expensive to begin with and when VAT is added it seems to be almost adding insult to injury to the families concerned.
I appeal to the Minister to review the situation. There may be serious administration problems in relation to what should be exempted from VAT and what should not. Perhaps the most simple way of approaching it might be to identify named substances by named manufacturers as meeting the requirements that they should be basically foodstuffs and exempting them, by name, in some special schedule published by the Revenue Commissioners.
Anybody who has small children knows, for example, that the normal Liga biscuit is a very essential part of a child's diet. For the child who is a coeliac sufferer a specially adapted biscuit of this kind is no less an essential food. I urge the Minister, pending any action by his colleague, the Minister for Health, for the possible addition of coeliac disease to the list of long term illnesses, to take some initiative in this matter which would not cost the Exchequer a great deal but would show goodwill to coeliac sufferers.
