Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming along to take this Topical Issue debate. Non-aligned Deputies do not get any guaranteed speaking rights at all in this Chamber. As any speaking rights that we get are purely on the basis of a lottery, when we manage to get a lottery question or Topical Issue addressed to the Minister for Health, it would be very useful for that Minister to be in the Chamber to answer it. In fairness, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has his own portfolio and objectives and may not be able to answer all of the questions. If we are going to have this idea of a Topical Issue where questions are asked of the Minister, it would be really useful if the Minister would show up and answer the questions.

For years, the Government has spoken about getting patients out of hospitals and into primary care. Pharmacies can play a significant role in the delivery of primary care. It is very obvious that pharmacies are not being utilised to the full extent in what they can deliver to patients. If we can get doctors' surgeries to take patients out of hospitals and pharmacies to take patients out of doctors' surgeries, it would make it far easier for the system to work. The Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, was given a commitment by the Minister for Health that he would enter into negotiations and that a new contract would be signed in 2020. He also committed to unwinding the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, among pharmacists. Pharmacy is the only sector in which FEMPI is not being unwound. Every other sector is in the process of unwinding FEMPI. Why is the pharmacy sector excluded? In October this year, the IPU was told at a meeting with the Department that €40 million to €50 million of cuts would be expected from the sector. No justification for that was given.

Given that we are looking for the pharmacy sector to take a bigger role in the delivery of primary care, why are we going down a route of threatening €40 million to €50 million of cuts for the pharmacy sector? If one contrasts the pharmacy sector with the dental sector, the dental profession was not told that cuts were expected from it. The pharmacy sector is equivalent to the GP and dentistry sectors combined in numbers employed. I recently heard that there may be some rowback with regard to these cuts and some preparation for negotiations and a contract. Are these cuts completely off the table? Is it the case that the Government will not proceed with the cuts in this sector? Will the Minister of State guarantee that? Has the Government taken a new position just because there is a general election in the offing and it realises that the Government will be gone before any contract or negotiations are complete at all? The nature of the pharmacy sector has changed radically in recent years. Pharmacies are doing more administration and dispensing than they did ten years ago but with less money. Business costs, including rates, rents and insurance are radically increasing. We heard from a Deputy earlier that insurance costs are affecting many different parts of society. The Government's inaction in this regard also has contributed to it.

The cost of full-time security is increasing for pharmacies around the country, especially in Dublin with the cocaine epidemic there. There is demand-pull inflation because workers are dealing with higher rents and they are forced to look for higher wages to be able to cover those rents. Pharmacists are anxious to engage with the Government to reduce wastage in drugs, especially with the new higher costs of drugs that are absorbing increasing amounts of the drugs debate in the State. This can be done in negotiations too.

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