Mr. Darragh O'Loughlin:

From the pharmacists' point of view, the issue is not only the cost of medicines as we do not set prices. Deputy Catherine Byrne and Senator Colm Burke spoke today and on previous occasions about pharmacists engaging with patients to support them in making healthier lifestyle choices and taking medicines correctly. Some of the savings generated in securing lower prices for medicines should be expended on supporting patients to take medicines to ensure they benefit from them. Patients need to take the right medicine at the right dose at the right time and to do so consistently.

The pharmacy profession does more than supply medicines. Our role is also to support and assist patients. Deputy Catherine Byrne is anxious that more be done to support people in making healthier lifestyle choices. If people are to live longer, which would be good, it is preferable that they also live healthier lives. Members are probably too busy to watch television. In January the Irish Pharmacy Union worked with the "Operation Transformation" programme across the country, with the result that thousands of people visited their local pharmacy to have their body mass index, weight, height and waste circumference checked. Pharmacists were making a statement that we needed to start addressing the fact that, as Senator John Crown stated, 61% of the population were overweight or obese. Failure to address this issue will result in the system being bankrupted by cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Pharmacists have a major role to play in controlling illness before it reaches the point where it requires medication.