Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is open to any pharmacist to pay the €1,000 bonus to their employees. Lots of private companies and business owners have done so. The Government helps by allowing them to do so tax free. That is a change we made in the last budget. I know it was not Deputy Fitzpatrick's reference but, quite frankly, I do not think the reference by the pharmacist about GPs was fair. GPs did not close their doors during the pandemic; they kept them open. They saw patients but, where possible, they did consultations by phone or by video because they did not want to expose their patients to the risk of infection.

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