Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

We have received an opinion from counsel on behalf of the Attorney General on this matter. The HSE has its own opinion, as do the pharmacists. At my behest, some months ago Mr. Bill Shipsey, senior counsel, was asked to act as facilitator, which is allowed. I understand a meeting was held last week and that another took place yesterday. I hope that through this process we can reach agreement on some of the issues involved. The key factor is money. As a result of the new arrangements in respect of the wholesale margin and the new deal with the producers of medicines, we will save approximately €660 million over four years. We pay the middle range price in the European Union for drugs. However, the Irish consumer pays the highest amount in Europe for medicines. This is not acceptable. We must reduce the escalating cost of drugs in the health care system — the figure currently stands at €1.5 billion — by getting better value for money and, in particular, paying pharmacists a professional fee to dispense rather than a fee based on a 50% margin which everybody will accept is not appropriate.

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