Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will honour that. I had a good conversation with Darragh O'Loughlin, chief executive of the Irish Pharmacy Union, last week when representatives of the union came in to discuss some very important work it is doing on our Brexit preparedness, for which I thank it. I had hoped to begin initial engagement on some of the issues in pharmacy this year with a view to formal talks starting at the beginning of 2020. Pharmacists are coming up with solutions and ideas. We just need to make sure that what they are offering to do is added value or in other words, it is not duplication. We need to have that discussion about who does what in primary care and I am looking forward to having that discussion with our pharmacies. We must also have a discussion about contraception and the role of pharmacy vis-à-visthe role of the GP. I expect to publish the contraception report in the coming days.

Regarding individual figures at the end of the year, out of a budget of €16 billion, €17 billion or €18 billion, people can identify €1 million here and €7 million there - relatively small figures. This highlights the need for a multi-annual approach. We have €220 million for GPs over four years. That is primary care. We have €60 million for Sláintecare funding over 2020 and 2021. More money is going into primary care. We have so many primary care centres in all of our constituencies. We have the bricks and mortar; we must make them work in terms of taking that activity out of the hospitals and putting it into primary care. I genuinely believe that budget 2020, while only a start, is a real start in that shift.

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