Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge Deputy Gilmore's point about the urgency with regard to what will happen on Saturday. This was presented to me by my colleagues last week. The recent developments are helpful and will allow the negotiations to continue. As Deputy Gilmore will appreciate, I would be the first one to say that negotiations are necessary on every issue. It is what I believe in. The difficulty with the Competition Act not just from the point of view of pharmacists, but in other areas, is that the case was being put forward that to allow cartels or any group of people to fix their prices and arrangements was to prevent proper competition. That is where the current arrangements came from. The Competition Authority devised the system. Obviously, it creates difficulties.

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