Mr. Jim Curran:

The fee was reduced by 5% in 2014 but that was the last reduction.

Deputy Brassil asked about the rural-urban split. Our survey did not specifically analyse the situation in provincial towns. We surveyed different regions and discovered that, on average, 79% of pharmacies nationally were the victims of crime. The figure was 89% in the eastern region, which is a region that is more urban dominated. In the south east we found that 92% of pharmacies were the victims of crime. The lowest figure of 56% was in the north west, next was the midlands at 69%, the mid-west at 84% and the south was 75%. There was not a massive variation in percentages. The evidence strongly suggests that crime against pharmacies is very much perpetrated against both rural and urban pharmacies.