Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was the least the working group could have done. Bearing in mind the discussions we had at the Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution to look at the roles of pharmacists internationally and the expansion, doubling the prescription time is about as little as could have possibly been done. Looking at the interesting statistics on the cohort of women who are more likely to have a termination, between 25 and 35 years of age, Dr. Henchion mentioned the cost element for younger girls. It is so complicated to try to determine who is most at need. That is clear in the report, which I have read a number of times. It is difficult to qualitatively analyse the report and determine where the money is best spent. Should it be given to the poorest person? Should it be give to the person who is most at risk? Why do we not just do our best with what we have at the minute? We have community pharmacists who are well trained in this area. Some pharmacists are particularly popular, if that is the word, for morning-after pills and access to contraception. I cannot understand, when we have such a large cohort of patients with such a large headline figure of €90 million to €100 million, why we do not work with what we have to start without trying to fix the whole thing on day one. We would tap into people within every age group within the community pharmacy.