World Pharmacists Week: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24 ============================================================ Marie Sherlock (LAB), Dublin Central I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak during statements in advance of World Pharmacists Day. It has been said many times in the Chamber that pharmacists play an extraordinary front-line role in terms of that preventative and community care piece. We know there are over 1,900 community pharmacies across this country. In some ways, they are the unsung heroes of our health system. While there is a lot of focus on our doctors and nurses and other parts of the health service, it is the pharmacists, many of whom run seven-day operations or extended hours, who are at the front line or coalface within our health system. This is particularly true at a time when access to GPs is an issue. The Minister will be fed up listening to me talking about access to GPs and that very real issue that is particularly concentrated in certain parts of this country. In addition, when our hospitals are under enormous strain, it is really critical that we support our pharmacies and our pharmacists to be able to provide as much of that care in the community as possible. About 2.1 million adults visit a pharmacy every single week in this country, which is a phenomenal figure. An extraordinary proportion of our population is accessing healthcare through something that is on our main streets not hidden away. In that regard, I welcome the progress in the past year with regards to the vaccination service, and BowelScreen in particular. It is great that 1,600 pharmacies have now signed up to the BowelScreen programme. The MediBack issue has been a bugbear for a long time. People come to me, particularly when a loved one dies, and there is a lot of medication in the house. It is one of those awful parts of having to deal with the situation when somebody passes away - getting rid of the stuff from the house but with nowhere to go. There is the environmental issue but also the awful waste when it is going nowhere. Therefore, it is fantastic that the MediBack system is now there. I want to raise the need to look at where pharmacies are located across our communities, particularly those communities that do not have as much access to GP care as is possible. The Minister will have heard me talk of this before. In the north inner city, the Dublin 1 area has just over 3,500 people to one GP, whereas the national average is 1,700 to one GP. The reality is that people are much more reliant on their pharmacists for care. In the case of my constituency, there is a population with very complex medical needs. In that regard, we need to look very closely at how we support our pharmacies. The other key point concerns who turns up at our emergency departments. In particular, I think of the Mater hospital being the local GP for many people in my community. When we look at the national figures, people did not have a GP referral for 72% of emergency department presentations last year. That is a wake-up call in terms of how people are accessing health services. To a much greater extent, they should be relying on GPs but because GPs are not accessible and because people cannot get a timely appointment, they end up going to the emergency department. I say that in the context that we need to better resource and support our pharmacies, particularly in disadvantaged communities. The deprivation grant was rolled out to GPs a number of years ago, which is certainly very welcome, but it is not going to change anybody’s world. It is a small amount of money but it is an important reflection and indication to those GP services in disadvantaged areas of the work they are doing. It was changed last year, and some GPs in the most deprived areas are no longer getting it, which is an issue I need to take up with the Minister. I have been putting forward parliamentary questions but I am making very little progress with the HSE on finding out who is now getting it. The key point is that there is a deprivation grant. It should be going to the GPs who have the most disadvantaged set of patients. Similarly, we need to see the deprivation grant going to pharmacies as well. Effectively, they are providing a front-line health service in areas where people cannot easily get a GP. The IPU has put a cost on this of somewhere in the region of €2 million, which is a very small amount, but it would go far in supporting pharmacies in disadvantaged areas. The other key issue I want to raise concerns prevention and the rollout of vaccinations. We know that community pharmacists play a big role in administering the flu vaccine every year. A source of frustration is the lack of co-ordination with regard to vaccine supplies. Every year, pharmacists contact me to say they have run out of stock, while other pharmacists contact me to ask if I know anyone or any local school that might need the flu vaccine. There is a lack of co-ordination when I talk to the HSE locally about where supplies and stocks are. At a time when we need to be mindful of how money is spent in our health service, it is ridiculous to think that this co-ordination is not there. Women’s health is obviously a very important issue for the Minister, as it is for me. The contraception prescribing service that will operate from early next year will be wonderful. However, to repeat myself, why is the cut-off at the age of 35? I appreciate that it is about money but the key issue is that this is a really important service for women. We need the Minister, as a woman, to champion this within the health budget. We look forward hopefully to some progress on that. There are two final issues I want to raise. The first concerns the reports this week on the changes to the drugs payment scheme. A number of people have contacted me who are particularly concerned because the drugs payment scheme has been a lifesaver for them. In a cost-of-living crisis, the prospect that the drugs payment scheme threshold may change is very frightening for people, particularly given what was reported with regard to long-term illnesses, which was some sort of co-payment. As the Minister knows, the list of illnesses on the long-term illness scheme has not changed in donkey’s years and, of course, there is a huge demand to add new illnesses to the scheme. The critical issue for those with long-term illnesses who are not on the long-term illness scheme is that there might be changes to how they pay for their drugs. It is a great concern. I ask the Minister to clarify whether there are changes afoot, given the reports we saw. We have talked today about community pharmacists. Obviously, there are a lot of pharmacists within hospitals but there are also pharmacists within addiction services. They play an enormous and profoundly important role in the lives of those on a recovery path, particularly with regard to the opiates stabilisation programme. It is important to highlight that a number of sessional pharmacists were taken on in the 1990s and 2000s as a fix. They were taken on on a contract basis, and that has been rolled over every year because there was effectively no space for them to be taken on on a permanent, full-time basis. They have been with the service for many years but they accrue no pension rights. The reality is that they have fought and fought the HSE on this issue but they have made no progress. I will take it up with the Minister on an individual basis but it is important for me to raise their situation on the floor of the Dáil. They have provided a vital service but they feel that lies have been told to them by the HSE. The reality is that people have died without any pension entitlement, particularly death benefits for their families. They have provided a service that is hidden from the rest of society but certainly in the communities I represent, it is a vital service. They feel very much abused and disrespected in the roles they have played. I will take it up with the Minister outside the House. It is important to recognise that the pharmacists we are talking about here today are not just on our main streets, although they are wonderful, but also the ones in silent but really important roles in our health service, keeping people alive. --- 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/2026-09-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-24