Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I am being fair to him. It is regrettable that neither Deputy Seán Power nor Deputy Brian Lenihan, who are also Ministers of State in the Department, was sent here today because it puts the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, in a very awkward position dealing with this area as a member of the pharmacy profession. I do not make any apology for saying that. I say it out of respect for the Minister of State.

I fully agree with Senator Ryan. What we should do at this stage is withdraw the Government amendment until Report Stage and debate it on a different day. It is next to impossible to take in all the information that has been thrown at us in the space of a few minutes.

This has major implications and Senator Ryan alluded to some of them. The question that strikes me immediately is whether extra resources will be given to An Bord Altranais. I have limited dealings with the board on the issue of Irish nurses returning home after training or working abroad. It is under pressure dealing with those applications. It also has difficulty finding the resources to deal with the issue of recognising the qualifications of foreign nurses who wish to work here. This will put the board under extreme pressure. Nothing in the Bill provides it with extra funding or staffing. I wonder how well it will work out.

What are the implications for ambulance crews? Will people on ambulance crews and fire services have the power to prescribe drugs? I am aware that in Dublin the fire service works on a different system to the rest of the country. It is run like an ambulance service and has extra powers. What are the implications of amendment No. 38 for ambulance and fire services?

I urge the Minister of State in the interests of co-operation and fairness to park this series of amendments. Let us have time to digest and examine them and make sure we are proceeding in a correct manner instead of the farcical scenario of returning in a few months' time to put forward further amendments after realising we rushed this through. I urge the Minister of State to leave this amendment to Report Stage. Let us think about it for a week. Hopefully, it will work out fine.

Fine Gael has no objection to nurses having the power to write prescriptions. It makes sense. However, we must work out the details and make sure we are not taking an action that will backfire on us.