Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I want to make a suggestion to the Minister on the potential threat to the safety of pharmacists where too much information is disclosed and on the related issue of Internet sales of drugs. We have given the Garda and the Minister the right to oblige all companies to retain their records of traffic for three years. Every piece of spam concerning the Internet sale of drugs that lands in my in-box is in the possession of the authorities. The tedious job that is now required is tracking the sources of spam and demanding that whoever is making the offers be prosecuted by the authorities of the country in which he or she resides. There is no simple solution other than to pursue those who offer me God knows what medications at bargain prices. Our authorities should demand that either the ISP being used to send the e-mail or the authorities of the relevant jurisdiction deal with the offers.

The ability to purchase cheap drugs of dangerously bad quality over the Internet is going to become a significant threat to public health. It is already a major issue in countries less enlightened than our own, where people must pay large sums for necessary drugs. The fact that we have a fairly sensible drug payment assistance scheme is probably a guarantee that we will not follow that route. People in other countries are not buying these drugs for reasons of addiction but because they cannot afford the drugs prescribed for them. More vigour is needed on the part of our authorities in terms of finding out where the offers of cheap drugs are being made.