Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The IPU to its credit, and Deputy James Reilly mentioned this earlier, has called for no disruption in services. I welcome that. Pharmacists take their ethical duties seriously. Unlike in the case of methadone, where one is not required to give three months notice to break a contract, under the contract the State has with pharmacists a three month notice period is required. There will be no cash crisis on Saturday and no issues with the payment of staff. We cannot justify postponing the high margin paid to the wholesaler until the Dorgan group reports. There are two separate issues here.

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