Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

We want to negotiate a new contract and we want a flat fee for dispensing. The expertise of pharmacists is dispensing medication. It is crazy that we give pharmacists, through the DPS, a mark-up of 50% and a dispensing fee of €2.68, while they also get an 8% discount from the wholesalers which is not part of the contract between the State and the pharmacists. That, as pointed out by the Brennan Commission, is crazy, and one does not need any studies to know it is not sustainable. We want to pay pharmacists a flat fee for dispensing. We want to pay them the same fee whether they are dispensing for the medical card scheme or the DPS. That is fair. Obviously there will be different arrangements for the high-tech schemes, which will be considered in the context of the new contract.

What is happening now is a staging post on the way to a new contract. A new contract with the pharmacists is what we really need. We want to sit down and negotiate that contract as quickly as possible and then have it independently priced. We are not allowed to do otherwise under competition law, notwithstanding what the Deputies have said. Competition is good for markets, good for consumers and, in this case, good for patients. We cannot have innovation if we do not have competition. We have to adhere to competition law. We can resolve our difficulties in the context of a new contract, which will, it is to be hoped, involve a more developmental role for pharmacists in the health care system.

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