Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think we would all accept the idea of an expanded role for Irish pharmacists in this area. The frustrating thing for us, especially as Members but also as a committee, is that every week we hear this is possibly under review and so on. We have heard a number of possible ways of moving forward today and we have heard that the matter is under review. I believe there is a general consensus among the members - certainly, it has been expressed - that we would look for an update from the Department on the minor illness scheme. There is a motion on oral contraceptives that I will put to the committee at the end of the meeting. Is there anything additional we could do as a committee about the supply bottlenecks? Dr. O'Dwyer mentioned medicines supply shortages and therapeutic substitution of medicines. I presume that means that if a particular brand is not available, it is just replaced with another. Mr. Twomey talked about singular molecules in particular branded medicines. I am coming at this as a layman.