Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Gabh mo leithscéal. The Minister has refused to negotiate with the IPU. It has urged pharmacists to continue dispensing medical card prescriptions, despite the massive cut in their fees, as a token of goodwill and to allow time to find a formula to resolve the issue. What compromise is the Minister willing to make to prevent this dispute escalating?

I do not know where pharmacists' breaking point is but it must be very close. In Carraroe I met a young pharmacist with a young family whose pharmacy is 90% dependent on the GMS. He was shaken by the dispute and must be about to close up shop.

The Minister's action is a massive hit to rural and young start-up pharmacies. Up to 300 outlets are under pressure to close. In Galway, one to 1.5 lay-offs per shop is expected. Why threaten so many livelihoods? I do not thank the Minister for this. It is all because she will not negotiate.

Shame on the Minister. Why has she not gone after the drug manufacturers who make the big bucks? She knows this because she agreed the price with them. What is her hidden agenda? What deal has she entered into with them?

The so-called independent body under Seán Dorgan, unilaterally established by the Minister, is restricted to coming up with a flat fee to apply to the contract. No pharmacist has yet signed up to it, as it was drafted entirely by the HSE and not negotiated or agreed with them.

If the Minister agreed the terms of reference for the independent body with the IPU, there might be some chance pharmacists could accept the outcome. The Minister, however, is persisting with the one-sided bullying approach, instead of calmly negotiating with the IPU, which wants to negotiate and achieve the same savings.

The Minister, as Senator Fitzgerald pointed out, is presiding over a failed industrial relations negotiation. Will the Minister explain why she is embarking on a unilateral breach of pharmacists' contracts? A contract must have two parties at least. The Minister is exposing the State again to large litigation costs. Between 500 to 600 litigation cases are being prepared. This attitude is similar to that of the Department of Education and Science against children with special educational needs. It wasted €11.5 million in litigation costs fighting them instead of providing them with services. To give pharmacists their due, proposals have been on the Minister's desk for some time outlining ways to save €90 million through generic substitution, as well as alleviating waste through the over-prescription of drugs.

We cannot forget the patient, the most vulnerable party in the loop. What are the Minister's plans to get drugs to patients in the absence of a local pharmacy or when a drug is not on the shelf because it is too expensive to carry? Some drugs for shingles, for example, cost more than €100. What are her plans in that case? I want to hear some answers. I am disappointed with the Minister's adoption of an entrenched approach when negotiation would have made all the difference.