Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

-----opened up the market - she was certainly a PD at that time - it allowed many young pharmacists to come into the pharmacy business. They came in on the basis of the type of mark-ups and reimbursements that have been there, at least up to now, and were there at the time. Many young pharmacists took out bank loans and now have very high overheads as a consequence of the opening up of the market. They are now effectively being cut off at the knees by this measure. I ask the Minister to understand where they are coming from. I am not concerned about the large multiple pharmacies, but I am concerned about the community pharmacists who are trying to make ends meet and are genuinely worried about having to lay off staff.

I am also very much concerned about the patients who will be impacted by this move. I ask the Minister to meet them on a fair basis to try to find a solution to this issue. Ms Liz Hoctor, president of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, said: "Our position is a responsible one. We know we have to play our part in reducing costs and we are ready and willing to do so. Indeed, we already offered to take an 8% cut in our fees."

They appear to me to be as willing as any other health professional group to take their fair share of cuts. They have also told me that they have suggested a further €30 million could be saved on generic prescribing, if they were allowed as pharmacists to substitute generic products responsibly for patented products. Will the Minister explain why it is necessary to be so confrontational with pharmacists? We had the battles last year and now we have this battle again. When it came to the consultants, for example, the Minister was able to take years to reach an agreement with them whereas the pharmacists are being dealt with at arms length in this type of confrontational manner, which can and will lead, if something is not done, to severe difficulties for medical card patients in particular.

I urge the Minister to adopt some type of an approach that will meet the pharmacists half way to try to find the savings necessary without everybody having to suffer the pain that appears to be facing us.

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