Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

In the event of their closure, these are the people who will suffer from a lack of service. I want to move an amendment to today's Order of Business and I want the Leader to ask the Minister for Health and Children to come to the Seanad and explain the Government position. Is the Government happy to leave in place the deadline of 1 March or will it remove it, appoint an independent arbitrator, as the Minister indicated as far back as December she wanted to see in place? In the meantime, the HSE sent a letter to all the pharmacists asking them to sign the contract. Can we have clarity from the Minister on the Government's position in this regard? Is the Government willing to change the deadline? It was very clear from the HSE representatives at the health committee yesterday that if the Government were to give a different direction on this and show flexibility, negotiations could go ahead. I want to move an amendment to the Order of Business to ask the Minister to come to the Seanad today and inform the House what stance she and Government are taking on this issue.