Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

The relationship that many of us have with our pharmacists is often a very important one. To demonstrate that, there is only a handful of people on my Christmas baking list beyond my family, but my pharmacist is right up there at the top. I really welcome that in recent years we have seen the expansion of the role that pharmacies play in communities. They can be such a hub for support for many people and communities.

In preparation for today's statements, I spoke with a local pharmacist, Ms Rebecca Goodwin from Roebuck Pharmacy, who was very helpful to me in explaining to me her feelings on this agreement. As we have heard from many Deputies today, this is a really positive step. It is a first step and is absolutely the right thing to do. We need to make sure that we have that two-way conversation between the Department and the Minister and the pharmacies themselves. I thank the Minister and the Department for the work they have done to get to this point. I also want to acknowledge the work of the IPU. Obviously, as a representative body, it has a tricky job in representing both independent pharmacists as well as the larger chain pharmacists. It has done a good job in getting us to this point.

My colleague, Deputy Rice, has outlined a lot of the details in this agreement that need to be examined further. I would echo Deputy Ó Snodaigh's points around waste. I have been very frustrated by this at times. When one has medication and one's dosages go up and down, there is nothing one can do with medication that has not been used. Pharmacists are not able to take it back. It is really important that we examine the issue of waste within the pharmaceutical sector and make sure that is not happening.

In terms of the points raised by Deputy Rice, I would emphasise the access piece. Obviously, the Social Democrats are very proud of Sláintecare and the work done on it by our co-founder, former Deputy Róisín Shortall. The ethos of making healthcare as accessible as possible is absolutely at the forefront for us and must be at the forefront in this kind of work. For too long we have had disjointed relationships across our healthcare system. Community pharmacies do really vital work in giving advice, providing vaccinations and simply keeping us all well. That work needs to be further supported and integrated into the healthcare system. We have heard details of the HRT scheme and the kinds of difficulties that arose earlier in the year when the Department attempted to roll it out. There were many issues but the work done by way of this agreement will prevent those kinds of difficulties from arising in the future.

Finally, I want to raise an issue that I have not heard mentioned today in this debate, namely the place of origin of pharmaceuticals. A number of people in my constituency have raised with me that they want to choose where their pharmaceuticals are from. In particular, there are certain products on the market that are from Israel and they would like to be in a position to refuse to take those. I appreciate that this is not simple and that some pharmaceutical products and medications cannot not be replaced with others. That said, is this agreement a place where we could potentially look at promoting Irish pharmaceutical products above those from other companies and making sure that consumers have the option of accessing the best medication to suit their medical needs while also matching their ethical concerns?

Overall, I welcome this agreement and thank the Minister for her work on it.

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