Dr. Susan O'Dwyer:

I will speak about what we call the third country qualification route, that is, pharmacists outside of the EU. They need to come to Ireland and do what is called an adaptation period, that is, work in a pharmacy under the supervision of a pharmacist. That adaptation period can be anything from six months to two years; it depends. It is a process the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland takes charge of. It is reviewing that process at the moment, and we are advocating at all times for that not only to be sped up but also to be facilitated, as the Senator mentioned, with visas. It is quite difficult for those applicants to get visas because they do not fit into one or the other category. They are not qualified professionals in the eyes of the State because they are undergoing the adaptation period but, equally, they are not students because they are qualified as pharmacists in their home countries, so there is that disparity. Our call is for that process to be expedited, for the relevant Departments to look at the visas and work with us to see that these are pharmacists. They are on the critical skills list, so we need these skills in our country now and we need to be able to move that process on and make it work faster and better for the people involved.