Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

That is absolutely disgraceful although the Minister of State is probably not the person responsible for making the decision. I recall that, on Committee Stage, we were told the job of chief pharmacist was being advertised. We are now being told the position is being reviewed and that there will be new terms of reference. The affair has gone into some kind of Neverland, which is an all-too-common feature of the arrangements between the HSE and the Department.

There are no safeguards in place at present. This Bill deals with the misuse of medicines and is called the Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005. It is perfectly in order to include the provisions I advocate in this Bill. One can certainly deal with other issues relevant to the pharmacy No. 1 Bill, the Medical Practitioners Bill or any other legislation in the pipeline, but one should remember that the pipeline has a very narrow gauge and there is an awful lot of stuff choking up the flow.

We are waiting for a lot of legislation and the weasel words referring to "the near future" and "the short term" are meaningless. Before the aforementioned legislation is introduced, the Minister is responsible to protect patients from malpractice. We have seen the lack of protection that obtained in the medical profession. Horrific practices were carried out because there were improper oversight and protections. We know what needs to be done in this regard and we can do it now — it is a matter of choice.

I hope the decision that has been taken does not come back to haunt the Minister of State, but I fear it might. It is a disgrace that an amendment such as mine, which could be accepted, is not being accepted and that the Minister of State is choosing an option that may be as long as a piece of string — we just do not know because no commitment from the Minister, Deputy Harney, on legislation has been met except the one that the HSE would be delivered on 1 January 2005. That, in itself, involved the wrong decision. It was made too quickly and now we see matters of life and death being addressed too slowly.

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