Dr. Lorraine Nolan:

I will not repeat what Mr Breslin said. I will just add some more information. On Deputy Durkan's question on doomsday scenario predictions in the UK regarding medicines supply, Mr. Breslin outlined very well the logistical preparations the industry is making. We have to remember that, in most cases, the industry has been preparing for almost three years. The industry has great expertise in logistics, knows how to split off supply from Ireland and examine different routing for medicines to come into the country.

In addition, the wholesale distribution model in Ireland is very different from the UK. We hold much larger buffer stocks at the wholesale level than the UK. In general, we hold six to eight weeks of stock. We have, therefore, a mechanism within that system giving us the capacity to maintain supply even if there are delays in getting medicines transported to and from the UK. Our system is more flexible and adaptable because different mechanisms evolved in the UK supply chain compared with the Irish situation.

Mr. Breslin spoke of generic medicines. The generic medicines industry works on smaller margins in respect of supplying medicines to the marketplace. Brexit, as we have said, does mean change. The cost of supply to the market may go up.

We do not anticipate that there will be a major impact in the aftermath of or at the end of March, but what we may see over time is a rationalisation by the industry of portfolios of medicines that are supplied into the Irish market. We do have systems for dealing with this. Mr. Breslin mentioned that the HPRA has a co-ordinating role in respect of shortages of medicines. We have a framework that has been put in place within the past six months and which is operating very well and has very good capability for managing shortages. The main thing in all our Brexit contingency planning, which has been ongoing for quite some time, is that we have very close engagement with the industry and receive real-time updates from it. The operational meeting to which Mr. Breslin referred gives us a mechanism to be able to react to an evolving situation very carefully. Therefore, with very careful monitoring and with issues occurring over time, the situation has the capability to be very well managed if there is rationalisation of generics. We also have quite an extensive supply of generic medicines in the Irish market. The Deputy may be familiar with the interchangeable lists of medicines published by the HPRA. This is the list of generic medicines that are available in the Irish marketplace. It is an aid used at pharmacy level for changing patients-----