Vol. 177 No. 2
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware of the grave public anxiety caused by the recent imposition of duties on imported medicinal tablets; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure that supplies of such tablets as are not manufactured here will at all times be readily available and will not be increased in price.
17.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that the effect of the recent imposition of duty on medicinal tablets and on ready mixed material for such tablets has been to increase the prices of such tablets by as much as 50 per cent.; and whether he will take any steps in the matter.
18.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce why a duty of 75 per cent. full and 50 per cent. preferential has been imposed on imported medicinal and veterinary tablets; and if he will state the effect such a duty is likely to have on the prices of such tablets.
19.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether there has been any increase in the price of medicinal preparations, not manufactured in Ireland, as a result of the recent order restricting the importation of certain medicinal preparations.
20.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether before restricting the import of certain medicinal preparations, he consulted (a) the Irish Medical Association (b) the National Health Council or (c) the representative body of the pharmaceutical trade in Ireland.
With the permission of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 together.
The Irish pharmaceutical industry produces a wide range of tablets which comply with the standards laid down in the British Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmaceutical Codex and the British Veterinary Codex, and the recent duty was imposed to assist the development of the industry. In accordance with established practice there were no consultations regarding the duty with third parties prior to its imposition.
There has been considerable misunderstanding in certain quarters about the effect which the imposition of the duty may have on the prices of tablets to the public and some misinformed statements have appeared in the public Press on this subject. Before the duty was imposed, an undertaking was given that the Irish made tablets would be sold to the pharmaceutical trade at prices corresponding to those at which similar tablets are sold to the pharmaceutical trade in Great Britain by British pharmaceutical manufacturers. There is, therefore, no reason of which I am aware why prices to the Irish public should be higher than in Britain. In some cases external firms may have been "dumping" tablets on the Irish market at prices lower than those charged on the British market; the effect of the duty in such cases would be to protect the Irish industry against such unfair competition.
The Order provides that the duty will not be charged on tablets comprised in an importation of not more than 100 tablets. The Order also contains a licensing provision which will ensure that tablets not produced here may be imported free of the duty. In the period immediately following the imposition of the duty a very liberal attitude was adopted towards the granting of applications for licences in order that there would be no dislocation of supplies and joint discussions have taken place with representatives of the Irish pharmaceutical industry and of importing interests with a view to working out a licensing procedure which will be satisfactory to all the parties concerned. In view of the fact that supplies of such tablets as are not manufactured here will continue to be freely available there is no reason why the price of such tablets should be increased.
Is it correct that so far as the duty is concerned it applies to and affects tablets not manufactured in this country? Am I correct in that?
That is correct.
Would the Minister not agree that in so far as sick people are concerned, some of them may have a belief in a particular tablet and that the effect of this duty in relation to those sick people is that the price of the tablet in which they believe has been increased from 50 per cent. to 75 per cent.?
I am satisfied that there are adequate alternatives available to these proprietary tablets to which the Deputy refers.
What I am concerned about is that the Minister and his colleagues seem to have acted on the basis that the important thing is the industry sought to be protected. I would suggest that the primary consideration in this matter is the sick person.
There is a consideration in the fact that it is possible to get two tablets which have perhaps identical British Pharmacopoeia components, but, for some reason not understood by the medical profession, one tablet may have a greater therapeutic effect than the other. In that case, a doctor may order a particular drug because he believes it will do good to the patient—who is to arbitrate? Is it the Medical Association or a committee of the Medical Association whose advice will be acted on before importing these tablets, or who is the authority?
The interests concerned with the distribution of these tablets have had free access to my Department, and, as I said in my original reply, the duty-free facilities have been very liberally given and I have no doubt will continue to be given.
May I ask the Minister a simple question to bring this down to a practical point? There is a variety of people travelling the roads of Ireland whose twinges of rheumatism are relieved only by veganin. You can give them all the drugs in the Pharmacopoeia and it will not give the same relief. Their next-door neighbours are dependent on disprin or something of that kind. God knows how these simple people get relief. The effect of this tariff is to deprive them of that relief. Is there any proportionate advantage to the economy of this State to compensate for the accumulation of minor sufferings involved in the lives of people who experience recurring pain? I suggest to the Minister that the thing is monstrous. I suggest that most of the tablets manufactured in 12 months are consumed in one year. There is no proportionate employment compensation for the accumulation of the minor sufferings of a multitude of people. It seems to be out of proportion to any conceivable benefit.
I should like the Deputy to understand that it was not for the purpose of shifting preference from one brand of these tablets to another that the duty was imposed. There was positive evidence of dumping which was seriously affecting genuine Irish industries which were producing goods of a standard which I was satisfied compared favourably with British products and also compared favourably as to price.
The Minister says there was positive evidence of dumping and that means, in effect, that sick people had an opportunity of getting medicines cheaper.
British firms had an opportunity of putting Irish workers out of employment.
I appreciate the Minister's difficulty in regard to dumping, but I still suggest that this is not simply a pharmaceutical problem. No doubt, there is a pharmaceutical element in the problem but there is one medical aspect on which I wonder if the Minister would seek some advice from the authorities, an authority on Materia Medica, chemical therapeutics or some such specialist in this question who would give advice in an authoritative way on this rather complex question.
It is not my desire to adopt an uncompromising attitude. If it is positively established that the circumstances outlined by the Deputy exist, we can have another look at the matter.
That is a very fair approach by the Minister.
In view of the distress and continuing pain caused to people if there are delays, could the Minister say precisely how long it would take the authorities to consider this matter? People are not prepared to linger in pain while the authorities are considering it.
That seems to be a separate question.
No Minister can say how long that would take.
May I point out——
The Deputy must put a question.
I just want to say that there is this difference. The fact is that the point has already been established by long medical experience. If the Minister had taken proper advice——
The Minister will have another look at it. There is great hope.
