Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I also wish to voice my concern to the Minister. I welcome that these issues are being addressed by the Bill and that the Minister will deal further with hospital pharmacies and pharmacists in the second Bill. She was right to say those pharmacists comprise an important group of professionals. I can empathise with their belief that they have been forgotten in this debate because they are not the front or sexy end of the market. Rather, they are behind closed doors. If there were a basement in every hospital, the pharmacies would probably be found there instead of on the high street in big, shiny shops. However, they do an important job in acute hospitals.

Currently, 49 hospitals are registered. Like Senator Henry, I ask the Minister to keep pressure on the Health Service Executive to ensure those hospitals are registered. This must be done to ensure hospital pharmacists work within the remit of the Bill and within a safe parameter for everyone involved. All pharmacists will be covered by this Bill, but I look forward to the second Bill. Am I to understand that hospital pharmacists will be dealt with in this Bill in terms of fitness to practise?