Mr. Tom Murray:

In general, I would say the funding we receive now is inadequate for the current level of services we provide. All our data supports the fact that we have pharmacists who are really struggling to keep the lights on and the doors open to allow them to continue to provide their current services. As I said, we are the most successful point of healthcare. More than 50% of the population visits us weekly.

We are eager to align ourselves with Government policy, as was shown in the task force, and the public want us to provide more services. We also want to provide more services. All these aspects need to be looked at in a funding model. There is certainly, however, a disparity in the provision of services in addiction care. Some of this is caused by the demand. Where I am working in rural County Donegal, I do not have huge demand. I have one patient at any one time, so there is an element of that. There is also, though, an element of funding and support for community pharmacy that needs to be looked at in the round in terms of all the services we provide to allow us to provide those additional services we are willing to provide.