Blister Packs: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-16
============================================================

David Cullinane (SF), Waterford

I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— in September, the Government accepted and published the new Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025, which was negotiated by the Department of Health;
— the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025 explicitly excluded reimbursement for monitored dosage systems (MDS), which had previously been reimbursed through the phased dispensing reimbursement mechanism, a practice which was widely known, accepted, and unchallenged by the Government;
— MDS, such as blister packs, are an essential and basic tool for improving medication management and safety, and can be the difference between taking medicines safely and risking missed doses, double dosing, or dangerous confusion; and
— the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025 could have included reimbursement for MDS where they are requested by a person's general practitioner or other appropriately qualified treating clinician;
further notes that:
— blister packs without subsidisation can cost an individual in the range of €20 to €50 a month, even more in some cases where a person has particularly complex needs;
— blister packs are an essential component in medication management, which allow for greater involvement of a person's carer or personal assistant in ensuring a person receives the right medicine in the right dosage at the right time, particularly where a person has cognitive or mobility issues or a physical or intellectual disability, which is otherwise not permitted; and
— many people, in particular older people, people with disabilities, and people with multiple conditions, had come to rely on this service being provided free of charge and cannot afford the additional cost which the Government has now imposed on them, which can accumulate to several weeks' worth of income a year;
considers that the inclusion of MDS in reimbursement arrangements with pharmacies is a small step towards universal healthcare which the Government should take; and
condemns:
— the Government's decision to withdraw blister pack supports from vulnerable people at the most expensive time of year for households and in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis; and
— the failure of Government and the Minister for Health to ensure coverage of MDS in the new Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025 on the basis of need; and
calls on the Government to:
— urgently avert the new fees for MDS, which are due to take effect from 1st January, 2026 by temporarily permitting reimbursement as was the case to date; and
— immediately engage with the Irish Pharmacy Union, to include a reimbursement mechanism for MDS in the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025, which delivers coverage on the basis of need, not ability to pay for all people who need them on the basis of a clinical recommendation.
It came as a shock to many patients when they received letters from pharmacists or were told orally by pharmacists that the blister packs that were previously funded and paid for, as they saw it, were now going to be subject to a charge from 1 January 2026 onwards. It is important to point out that these are very vulnerable patients. The vast majority of them are older people, over the age of 65. They are people with dementia, disabilities and a range of health needs, but they are the most vulnerable patients. The vast majority of people will not need blister packs, but for those who do, they are a necessity and they are important for a number of purposes. They help patients manage medicines, and they are also a very important aid and tool for carers and family members. I know from my own siblings and others who look after people that they have to make sure that the blister pack is out, the patient uses the appropriate medication and everybody benefits from it. It is really good for patients and there was an awful shock, when patients received notification formally or informally that this was going to come to an end and they will have to have to pay for it. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that €20, €40 or €50 a month is a huge amount for some people. We cannot ever live in a bubble here in Leinster House. We have to understand that this type of charge is a loss for a person who is on a very low income, a disability payment or a low-paid pension. For those people to be hit with this additional charge really did come as a shock to them and their families and to carers. However, it was not a shock to me that this was going to happen because I raised it directly with the Minister. I also issued a press statement at the time when the new community pharmacy agreement was put in place. I recognised this as a glaring omission and I warned that this would become an issue and unfortunately, it did. I understood the importance of them for patients and families and I certainly knew that when the time came and people realised that what they were getting previously free of charge and covered was going to be to be subject to a charge, would go down very badly and rightly so. It has been described as cruel by many people who have texted into radio programmes over the past week as well.
The Minister issued a statement on Friday of last week saying that she would put on hold the new community pharmacy agreement for a couple of months. The reason she gave for putting it on hold was rightly, that there is a lot of additional work for pharmacists. They are administering the flu vaccine and the Covid vaccine, which I got myself in a pharmacy last week. There is obviously additional work in managing diseases and the flu circulating in the community and other issues that pharmacists are dealing with. That was the reason the Minister gave. Nowhere in the press statement did she say she would look at this. In fact, she described blister packs as being private fees. In a response she gave in the Seanad, she doubled down as well on that.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-16