Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the interests of clarity, I will point out that the regulations governing the pharmacy fee structure made under section 9 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 expired at the end of 2019. Under the aforementioned Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017, those regulations were replaced on 1 January 2020 to maintain the statutory basis for the contractor payments and to prescribe the fees payable from that date. The current pharmacy fee structure was put in place and, as I said, came into effect on 1 January 2020. Since then, the overall spend on fees paid to community pharmacists under the community drug scheme has continued to rise year on year.The State has also paid for additional services provided by community pharmacists, including administering the Covid-19 and flu vaccinations and participating in the free contraception scheme, which was launched in September 2022. This demonstrates the substantial investment made by the Government to ensure community pharmacies are remunerated for the services they provide on behalf of the State. The statutory review of pharmacy fees is ongoing and departmental officials held a productive meeting with the Irish Pharmacy Union on 20 June. The Minister believes there is a significant opportunity work collaboratively with community pharmacists and other healthcare providers to make a substantial difference to patient outcomes.