Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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149. To ask the Minister for Health the date from which the payment under the drug refund scheme will be reduced from €114 to €100. [53456/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) was introduced by the Health Services (Drug Payment Scheme) Regulations 2012 (S.I. No. 526 of 2012) and provides for the refund of the amount by which expenditure on approved prescribed medicines/appliances exceeds a named threshold in any calendar month. All persons ordinarily resident in Ireland can apply for eligibility regardless of their means.

There have been significant reductions since the DPS was established, when the threshold was set at €144 per month. Most recently the threshold was reduced to €114 per month from 1 November 2020.

As announced in Budget 2022, the DPS threshold will be further reduced to €100 per month. It is anticipated that, upon enactment of secondary legislation to give effect to this change, the new threshold will come into effect on 1 January 2022.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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150. To ask the Minister for Health if epidiolex has been passed for reimbursement by the HSE following the additional allocation in Budget 2022 to cater for new drugs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53467/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.