The anti-impotence drug Viagra will be made available on prescription to medical-card holders, the Minister for Health has announced. Other eligible people will be able to claim back its cost under Community Drugs Schemes.
To "reduce the possibility of inappropriate usage", it will be limited to four tablets a person per month. Experts estimate that the average rate of sexual intercourse for men over 50 is four times a month.
Mr Cowen said he was accepting the recommendations of an expert group set up by him to recommend how the drug could be prescribed for genuine sufferers, while also protecting against possible misuse.
The group concluded that impotence was "a genuine medical condition which, in fairness and equity to those suffering from it, should be treated". It found Viagra was a "safe and effective drug for this condition", and GPs should be allowed to prescribe it.
The news was welcomed by the medical profession. For the Irish Medical Organisation, Dr Cormac Macnamara said it was "a sensible, pragmatic and humane decision which takes into account the real problem that exists."
He said that when Viagra first appeared on the market it "briefly became the widest-selling medication of all time". There had been widespread concern that it would "break the health budgets in many countries". As a result many countries had not made it available free or on a reimbursable basis except under stringent conditions.
However, both Dr Macnamara and Mr Ted McDermott, a leading consultant urologist at Tallaght Hospital, noted that in Ireland demand for the drug had proved much lower than expected. Mr McDermott said this had been partly due to fear of possible heart problems, although research had shown that people who had sexual intercourse with Viagra suffered fewer such problems than other people.
Mr McDermott said US research had shown that at the age of 40, 10 per cent of men suffered from total impotence, and another 30 per cent from intermittent impotence. At 50, these proportions rose to around 12-14 per cent and 36-38 per cent.
He said it was wonderful news that Viagra was being made available on prescription, since it was "a good safe drug for the treatment of male impotence". He stressed that it should always be used under the guidance of a doctor.
The Department of Health has estimated the annual cost of providing Viagra on prescription as £2.3 million. Dr Macnamara said he hoped this year's Budget would be adjusted to take this into account, given that GPs were working under tight financial controls. The most commonly sold Viagra tablet currently costs about £9 across the counter.
Yesterday's decision will mean that Ireland will become one of the European countries where Viagra is most freely available. In the UK it is only prescribed under very restrictive conditions, and in France and Germany there is no state reimbursement.