Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his ongoing advocacy and work in this area. The budget contained very good news for progress in this area. I have allocated full-year funding of €50 million for these negotiations. There would be €25 million available next year on an assumed commencement date of, let us say, July 2025. There is, however, full-year allocation of €50 million. The ask from the Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, is a lot bigger than that, obviously. It will seek more money, as happens in negotiations but €50 million is a sizeable allocation in the context, for example, of the different ways and patient services that could be funded.

A clear process was in place in this regard. First, we needed to get recommendations on any laws that needed to be changed to enhance pharmacy practice. We received those recommendations and those laws are now in place. I thank the Deputy and others for their support in bringing that forward. We now have a legislative framework to allow pharmacists to extend prescriptions, for medicine substitution protocols and for common conditions. This will bring in a new era in the services pharmacists can provide locally. I have repeatedly said that our pharmacists are highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals who have been underutilised in Ireland for a long time. One pharmacist said to me recently that pharmacists have been waiting 20 years for this new phase. Step one was to get the recommendations, which we have received. Step two was to pass the relevant legislation, which we have done. Step three was to allocate money in the budget, which I did this week. If I asked my officials to negotiate with no money on the table, it would just be paying lip service. It would not be real. I wanted to ensure a real amount was on the table. That has happened this week.

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