Professor Colum Dunne:

The last point I was going to make was a response to Deputy Healy, who asked whether GPs could be encouraged to prescribe generic medicines. This really relates to my point that GPs no longer really choose what medicine to prescribe, particularly in the community practice setting. They make use of formularies and automated practice management systems. Unlike the old days when one consulted a certain book, one is now given a list of the suggested products to prescribe for the condition of the patient. The challenge is that many GPs are acceding to the patients' wishes because they do not have time to try to educate and persuade them that they should take a generic medicine.