Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister for Health and Children to the House and compliment her for bringing this Bill before the Oireachtas before the end of the term of this Government. It is a very important Bill and must be enacted urgently. The registration of pharmacists and pharmacies is of vital importance to the well-being of the public.

In the past there were very restrictive practices relating to the setting up of new pharmacies. When I was chairman of the Western Health Board there was an objection to the establishment of a pharmacy in Knock, even though approximately 1 million pilgrims visited the village every year. Regulations imposed by the then Minister, Deputy Noonan, restricted the establishment of a new pharmacy by requiring the approval of an existing pharmacy in an adjoining town as a prerequisite. That regulation was watered down to some extent but the Bill before us will create a more level playing pitch.

The present society is agreeable to being disbanded and reconstituted, which is unusual for such an organisation. The new organisation will have 21 members, nine of whom will be, as the Minister said, elected by the Irish Pharmaceutical Union under a democratic system based, I presume, on the old approach for the election of pharmacists to the health boards. The IPU will have a role and it represents 1,600 members throughout the country but the HSE has refused to enter into discussions with it on terms and conditions for its members, unlike other medical unions which have regular contacts with the HSE. I cannot understand why that is the case and I raised the matter on 8 February in this House after discussions with IPU representatives. The Minister should arrange a review of the Competition Authority regulations because it is important the IPU have a direct relationship with the HSE on a formal basis as a representative union of so many members.

I also raised the question of pharmacies being attached to large medical practices. Members of the IPU provide services attached to large medical practices, which are starting to develop throughout the country. As the Minister knows, a number of practitioners come together and build a new, privately-owned health centre in which consultants take rooms. However, as has been mentioned in the House, the IPU has expressed great concern about the situation because there is no incentive for a medical practitioner to prescribe cheaper, generic drugs if a pharmacy is attached to the practice nor is there any incentive not to prescribe drugs at all. As the Minister knows, MRSA prompted an over-prescription of antibiotics, which were given out like smarties because everybody who went in felt they had to come out with a prescription.