Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Health if there are loopholes which allow a pharmacist who has been struck off from practising as a pharmacist in the North to be allowed to work as a pharmacist in the South; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38452/12]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) is the statutory regulator for registered pharmacists and registered retail pharmacy businesses in Ireland under the Pharmacy Act 2007. The PSI does not regulate pharmacists in Northern Ireland and the relevant authority in that jurisdiction is the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI). It is possible to be registered as a pharmacist in Ireland with the PSI as well as with the PSNI or relevant authority in another country at the same time.

A person’s fitness to practise as a pharmacist may be determined under Part 6 of the Pharmacy Act 2007 which deals with the fitness to practise provisions of the Act. Under Part 6 of the Act, complaints may be made to the Council of the PSI in relation to the conduct of named Registered Pharmacists or Registered Retail Pharmacy Businesses.

In order for a person to practise the profession of pharmacy in Ireland, the person must be registered on the register for pharmacists maintained by the PSI. Pharmacists registered with the PSI are required to apply for continued registration annually. When a pharmacist applies for first registration or continued registration with the PSI, the Council is required by the Pharmacy Act 2007 to have regard to whether the pharmacist has been prohibited from practising as a pharmacist in another state.

If it comes to the PSI Council’s attention that a sanction is imposed in another jurisdiction on a pharmacist registered with the PSI, (e.g. cancellation, suspension of registration etc) the Council is required to notify the Minister and, where it is known, the employer of the pharmacist. Furthermore, the Council, if satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so, may make public information regarding the sanction of a pharmacist in another jurisdiction.