Déirdre de Búrca (Green Party)

I thank the Minister of State for her response, although I did not find it very satisfactory. I deliberately avoided getting into the substance of the pharmacists' dispute with the HSE and focused very much on the contingency plans. Only one paragraph in the response dealt with that and it did not provide much information. I suppose it made me aware that the HSE has a national contingency planning framework but that each local health area will develop its own area-specific contingency plan within the context of the overall national framework.

I have not been left much the wiser as to what exactly the contingency plans are. I would like a little more reassurance in this regard. Much of the response was dedicated to explaining the HSE's position in terms of why it made the decision to reduce the dispensing fee for the pharmacists. I would like a little more clarity on the contingency plans.