Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I am afraid I will have to revert to bah humbug mode, although I echo the sentiments expressed by Deputy Murphy.

The Bill, being a miscellaneous provisions Bill, misses several opportunities in terms of the need to examine and reform the Irish Medicines Board. This body is in its first incarnation and while it does much useful work, it has been involved in what was often needless controversy. Part of that has come about as a result of the legislation that governs it and because of the constitution of the board that is meant to oversee its activities. It is a board that represents particular vested interests in the production and distribution of medicines in our society but a board with a better balance, under better legislation, is something for which this House should strive. We should be discussing a new, all-embracing Irish Medicines Board Bill rather than making matters more difficult by broadening the remit of the current board without ensuring it can operate effectively.

The most obvious controversy the board has been involved in is the area of complementary and alternative medicine, particularly its decision on the use of St. John's Wort. That remains a dichotomy because this substance has been banned by the Irish Medicines Board yet it is freely available in the northern part of this island. If we do not have consistency on an all-island basis, never mind the way such medicines are treated in a European sense, we are not doing a good job of representing the interests of our people.

One of the main functions of the Irish Medicines Board should not necessarily be the overseeing of the safety and efficacy of medicines, which is an important role, but making valued comment about the use of medicine in Irish society. We are a heavily over-subscribed society in terms of medicine, particularly in the use of antibiotics, and the question must be asked in the ongoing debate on our health service the reason, despite this over-prescription of medicines, there is such a prevalence of viral conditions. For instance, the existence of MRSA in our hospitals cannot be a coincidence in that these phenomenon go side by side. I would like to see more openness and honesty from a State agency that is meant to be performing that role. My party and I believe it is not performing that role effectively.

That said, the provisions in the Bill will make life harder rather than easier for the Irish Medicines Board. There is an obvious need to extend its remit in terms of medical devices but I question whether extending it to include veterinary medicines and, more particularly, cosmetics is something we should bestow on a board that is meant to be examining medicine in terms of the health needs of our citizens. Cosmetics is an area about which most people are not very concerned. There are safety issues that should be addressed and others that should have been dealt with in the past by the then Institute of Industrial Research and Standards and its follow-up organisation Forfás. They have to do with the chemical make-up of available products. The role of an Irish medicines board is obscured if one of the areas it is meant to be dealing with is cosmetics. That is leaving aside the ethical considerations of cosmetics, where many of those products are tested on animals.

There is another more open debate in regard to the testing of medicines on animals but when we get into the regulation of cosmetics and materials that have been produced by that method, we are entering dodgy ethical waters that will compromise the work of the Irish Medicines Board.

The main selling point of the Bill has been the additional power of nurses to dispense medicines in most circumstances. That is a welcome measure about which I have not come across dissent. My mother was a nurse for 40 years and it always was a source of frustration to her that she did not have that ability, particularly at a time when she would have gone through an education system in which women were not encouraged to become doctors, and nurses like her working on hospital floors had far more experience and ability to ascertain a diagnosis than many of the interns and junior doctors with whom they were dealing. This new power could be a help in terms of many of the problems we face, including unnecessary delays which often lead to tragedies in our health service. I hope it will be used and will have good effect.

Another area I have a concern about is the powers being vested in the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, which is a non-statutory, independent body. To have powers conferred on an agency which is not directly responsible or accountable to the State is something with which I am uncomfortable. Why does the Minister and the Department believe such expertise is not being provided by the State? I would have thought it would be an important part of the regulatory function for the State to have such a competence and be engaged in such work. That is aside from the various components of pharmaceuticals, from those who manufacture the goods to those who are eventually responsible for dispensing and selling them. Unfortunately, we must deal with the fact the pharmaceutical industry is represented by too many vested interests. The Minister of State has had personal experience of dealing with the industry. It is unfortunate that this Bill is being taken without a proper look at new pharmacy legislation. Difficulties arise with the medicines that are manufactured, the ways in which people can access them and the people who are responsible for making them available. Too often, this process is administered in a cartel-like fashion whereby people are not properly informed or unable to make full use of available medicines.

Deputy Catherine Murphy spoke about people's ability to buy many medicines that are unlicensed over the Internet. Like every other Member of his House and, I suspect, anyone with a computer, I regularly receive spam e-mail encouraging me to improve my manhood or womanhood. Senders of such e-mail clearly use a scattergun approach. However, more serious spam e-mail, which encourages people to acquire products such as steroids, is sent. I have yet to hear the Government give a coherent response about how we can prevent people gaining access to drugs which can harm them and society, aside from giving the Customs and Excise more powers.

The Irish Medicines Board should become a more all-embracing organisation that represents consumer interests more than vested interests. The Government's arguments regarding the Irish Medicines Board are fundamentally flawed. The Government believes the board must be almost entirely led by experts, which is a "nanny knows best" approach to medicine. The public should have an input and be involved in the decisions made about the products that will be made available to it and how. I am not confident that the Irish Medicines Board is doing this job effectively. The fact that we have not taken the opportunity to introduce the reforms that would make the Irish Medicines Board the organisation it needs to be — an organisation in which the public can have confidence — is a missed opportunity.

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