Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Under the competition Acts and the Treaty of Rome price-fixing provisions for self-employed professionals, it is not possible for direct negotiations to take place with the pharmacists. The Government has deliberated on this, Bill Shipsey, Senior Counsel, has been hearing the concerns of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union and I have discussed these matters with the HSE. I hope we will be able to put in place appropriate reimbursement for pharmacists. They earn their incomes from a combination of a percentage return on their sales from the distributors and the fee from the HSE and we want to separate the cost of the commodity from the professional fee for the pharmacists. I hope that can be achieved quickly. I fully support entrepreneurship and the pharmacy sector is an example of entrepreneurship providing a service to patients.