Irish Cancer Society

Lobbying Organisation Irish Cancer Society

Date published 21 Sep, 2018

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Health

Period 1 May, 2018 to 31 Aug, 2018

Specific Details Access to Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

Intended results To seek information on plans to remove the requirement for medical card holders to obtain a prescription from their general practitioner (GP) to access NRT for free on the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme; To seek information on what legislative change is required to allow medical card holders to access nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), without a prescription from their GP; To gain political support for our NRT campaign

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Karen Williams, Project Officer - Policy

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (2-5)

25/5/18 - Emails to Deputy O'Reilly seeking her support in raising the issue of NRT access for medical card holders for topical debate, and also to arrange a meeting to discuss our upcoming NRT campaign. 3/7/18 - Submitted PQ via email to Deputy O'Reilly to ask the Minister for Health his plans to remove the requirement for medical card holders to obtain a prescription from their general practitioner (GP) to access NRT for free on the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter [30397/18] 19/7/18 - Submitted PQ via email to Louise O'Reilly to ask the Minister for Health what legislative change is required to allow medical card holders to access nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), without a prescription from their GP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [to be raised]

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Louise O'Reilly TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)