Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Persons with the power to prescribe include GPs. I share Deputy Kelleher's concern about benzodiazepines, which Deputy Ó Caoláin and others share. In respect of the Chairman's comments about pharmacists, we are enhancing the role and strengthening the hand of the pharmacist. With regard to pharmacists declining to dispense, there was a concern that this would affect the health of the individual patient tendering the prescription, but we are now expanding the basis upon which the pharmacist can decline to fill the prescription where there is a broader concern about the health and welfare of others. That comes back to the point about benzodiazepines.