Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the Minister carried out a study and reconsidered the original proposals he made last year. The health food sector, which plays a significant part in wellness for many people with medical conditions who supplement their medical prescriptions with different products to try to improve their wellness and recover from operations or conditions they have developed, is particularly important for older people. The presence of health food shops in many small traditional shopping centres is evidence of this. People rely on these products to a great extent. Homoeopathic medicine and vitamins, etc., account for a critical element of the prescribing practices in many other countries. People in Ireland and other countries rely on them to a significant extent. For that reason, I strongly suggest that the Minister should examine this proposal as carefully as possible. I am aware that products such as supplements may fall into other categories, such as sporting products. We need to distinguish between health food supplements, which are about helping people who are in an illness or post-illness situation into recovery, and food supplements, which may be for other purposes. We need to know more about this. Although many medical people might be fairly unimpressed by health food products, such products represent an important pathway in the recovery of many people.

Proper supervision should mean they are not sold items that are bogus. If people are taking appropriate doses of tonics, vitamins or supplements to improve their situation then all in all, in a way, the Minister's colleague in the Department of the Health, who has his own problems, may well benefit because people are given the capacity to help themselves. I appreciate the steps the Minister took last year but we are not there yet on this.