Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 4, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:

"(a) a homeless person, or a person accommodated in emergency or transient accommodation by reason of his or her lack of an abode,".

Section 1(4)(c) exempts certain people from the prescription charge. The Minister listed people such as children in care and those on methadone and she can make regulations to include other people in this section. Amendment No. 3 proposes that homeless people should be exempt and amendment No. 4 proposes including a person who is dependent on medication to such an extent that he or she would be at immediate risk of death or serious injury, including psychiatric injury, if he or she ceased to receive such medication.

It will be extremely difficult to collect the charge from homeless people. In many cases their lives are quite chaotic and they do not have money when they need medication. If they live in a hostel, they usually have an arrangement whereby the cost of the hostel is taken from their income in an organised way. It is unlikely many homeless people presenting at a pharmacy will pay the 50 cent charge. There will be great difficulty in collecting this. Homeless people come to see me, as they come to see other Deputies, on a regular basis. In some cases they do not receive social welfare payments because they do not have an address. They will not have the money to pay a prescription charge.

Also, many homeless people do not stay in the same place for any length of time. In some cases they must move around to where a bed is available. Sometimes they are put into bed and breakfast accommodation and in other cases they move from one area of the country to another. This will be very difficult to implement with regard to homeless people. I ask the Minister to consider the amendments. The Minister referred to the difficulty in identifying homeless people in the system but Dr. Reilly said there used to be a designation of no fixed abode for people with medical cards.

Amendment No. 4 is important because it concerns those at risk of death or serious injury, including psychiatric injury, if they do not receive medication. The Minister did not respond to this point during the debate on Second Stage. What is the pharmacist to do where they believe people are at risk if they do not receive medication and are not willing to pay 50 cent? What should the pharmacist do? I imagine pharmacists will be out of pocket because they will not deprive people of medication that is absolutely needed. It is not fair to pharmacists in circumstances where a person needs medication.

These amendments address real situations that will arise once the Bill is enacted. I want a proper answer from the Minister regarding those whose lives are at risk if they do not get their medication. Sometimes those people are not rational in how they behave if told they cannot receive medication without a 50 cent fee. There are real difficulties for the person trying to take the money from them and I ask the Minister to treat these amendments seriously and accept them.

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