Mr. Dermot Twomey:

I thank the Cathaoirleach for that question. It is in the legislation that the Minister has to review the fees paid to pharmacists by the end of June this year.

We have written to the Minister seeking a meeting with him and his colleagues to start that process. We have not seen how it will be set out yet. We are talking about expanding our role and providing additional services, which we can only do if the sector is well reimbursed. Going back, as my colleague Ms Maher said, to 2008, we were paid a higher fee per item than we currently receive. In terms of equity, it is important that our fee is linked to the consumer price index and similar linkages and takes into account inflation, going forward.