Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I began public life through farming organisations which sought the right to speak and I understood that we were the last organisation from the 1960s which had the right to negotiate. The Minister has refused to allow normal negotiations to take place and has used all types of camouflage to prevent it. In the limited time available to me I wish to state that tens of thousands of elderly people and people with disabilities are desperately wondering from where they will get their medication in future.

The Minister is satisfied that there will be sufficient pharmacies to deal with the major issues, but I am thinking of places such as Emyvale in north Monaghan. I am aware of the Minister's attitude to north Monaghan as far as the hospital is concerned and we do not want to lose any more. We must consider the ordinary people. For God's sake, at this late point will the Minister allow the arbitrator to decide what is right and how it should be done? No group was ever asked to take a 50% cut because it is not possible to survive in those circumstances. The Minister still has a couple of days. The Taoiseach, the Minister and the HSE are all to blame for this. They all stood idly by for three months and did nothing to solve the issue. Now they are trying to impose something that is unworkable and unjust and will cause great hardship to those who do not deserve it.

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