Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. To be fair, that was a meaningful reply and I appreciate it. There are a couple of things to say in response. I welcome the acknowledgement of how vital pharmacies are. The language used by the Minister of State was better than mine. He referred to the value of pharmacists in the accessible and vital link they provide in our communities and in the whole healthcare system for our country.

I value the fact there has been engagement on this issue. Where we have a little disparity is that the Minister of State said in his contribution that the regulations and fee structure were put in place in 2019 and took effect from 1 January 2020. What that does not reflect is that the fee structure was set in 2009, which is almost 15 years ago. With everything that has increased since then, we need a review. My plea is that we need to review that upwards. This fee structure came into place in 2020, since when we have experienced Covid-19. We saw during the pandemic how extraordinarily vital pharmacists are in our local communities.