Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I welcome the fact that the HSE has deferred the 1 December deadline. That will be a great relief for many medical card holders, pensioners and others who have been concerned about their access to prescription medicines. There was a great deal of worry about it. I hope the process under way will result in a new agreement on pricing arrangements which will avoid problems arising in the future.

However, what gave rise to this is the problem with the Competition Act. It is absurd that the Act is being used or interpreted in a way that amounts to competition dogma gone mad, where common sense is thrown out the window. It is absurd that a body such as the HSE cannot meet with the Irish Pharmaceutical Union and directly work out the pricing arrangements. Similarly, actors, for example, who do voice-overs for advertisements cannot have their fees negotiated by Irish Actors Equity. That is ludicrous.

There is a need to change the Competition Act to allow for common sense discussions and negotiations to take place in the normal way between unions and professional bodies representing their members and the different agencies to whom they provide services. Will the Taoiseach examine the Bill prepared by the Labour Party and tabled by Deputy Higgins which would address this problem by amending the Competition Act to allow for common sense discussions to take place directly? The situation with pharmacists at the moment is that the two sides cannot talk to each other directly so they must each separately send a representative into a room with Mr. Shipsey and talk through him. It is nonsense.

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