Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The Deputy asked many questions, including who will be the losers. I first wish to identify the winners because that is important. The winners will be patients, who will receive the medicine cheaper, and taxpayers. The other winners will be pharmacists heavily dependent on medical card patients and pharmacists located in areas where the volume of business is lower. I cannot identify individually who will be losers but clearly those who have high volumes of business and receive large discounts will lose. So too will the wholesalers. I do not know the business arrangements between wholesalers and pharmacists in respect of who pays what. What I am concerned about is the contract the State has with the retail pharmacy sector and the community pharmacists to supply medication to patients. I am satisfied that what is happening this weekend will not impact on the State's capacity to provide a service to patients throughout the country. With regard to contingency, the HSE has a free telephone number on which it has taken between 200 and 220 calls from patients and been able to reassure them. In the event that somebody cannot get their medication, the HSE has assured me that medication will be brought to them.

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