Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The Members of this House who represent the Kildare North and Kildare South constituencies met representatives of the pharmacists at a constructive meeting last evening. It emerged at the meeting that the long and drawn-out nature of the dispute between the HSE and the pharmacists will have a negative impact on patients and the general public, unfortunately, as time progresses. Does the Taoiseach think the pharmacy (No. 2) Bill can be brought to the House to have a positive impact on this issue in the short term? We have not been given an indication of when the Bill is likely to be published. Reference has already been made to the forensics Bill, which will create the national DNA database. Is it intended to establish the full laboratory facilities needed to run the database or is it intended to continue to refer cases overseas?

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