Ms Kathy Maher:

I will take the questions from Deputies Fitzpatrick, Byrne and Healy on North, South and Border prices. I thank Deputy Healy and the Chairman for their kind words about the community pharmacist. They are right, in that the community pharmacy is the heart and hub of every town and village. Running a Border pharmacy and being from Northern Ireland originally, I am very aware of the price differences, but we must bear in mind that the price of drugs is set by an agreement between the Department of Health, the HSE and the manufacturers.

The ESRI report has shown that the price is falling and continues to fall. It fell by 30% between 2009 and 2013 and that was before generic substitution and generic pricing took hold. We have seen huge drops in the past 12 months alone since reference pricing came in, as Ms Gannon has pointed out. Pharmacists have campaigned since 2003 to be allowed to substitute generics, so we could have made years of savings. We welcomed generic substitution because there is much change we can bring about.

Deputy Catherine Byrne asked whether patients are confused. It can be very confusing for patients. Some of the drug companies ran campaigns to help patients to understand, but pharmacists spend many hours at the counter telling patients that the little white tablet that is round and flat is the same as the little blue tablet that may be oblong. This does take time, because the change from a short popular name to a long chemical name is difficult to comprehend and a person needs to have faith in the product they are going to take to improve their health. The PCRS and the HSE have acknowledged the difference pharmacists have made in the past 12 months in respect of the success of reference pricing and generic substitution in bringing down the State's bill.

Community pharmacists deliver medicines to elderly patients, young mothers and patients who are bed-bound or housebound across the country. They make a huge contribution to their patients' lives in respect of the delivery of medicines. Mail order pharmacy is currently illegal.