Notwithstanding the limited nature of this legislation, I welcome the Bill to prohibit the sale of tobacco to people under the age of 21 years. The passing of this legislation would make Ireland the first country in the EU to implement a Tobacco 21 policy. There is potential for Ireland to be a leader in this area, but unfortunately the Bill falls short of what is required to effectively tackle smoking. Waiting for Europe to act, as is too often the inclination of this Government, would be the wrong approach, espec…

Chair, we are meant to be dealing with the Bill.

This is a Bill.

Can the Deputy speak to the Bill?

No, there is no few more minutes.

This has nothing to do with the legislation.

That is a cheap shot.

There has to be some level of order in a debate.

Would you stop?

The Deputy talks as if he is the only one who cares.

That has got nothing to do with what we are talking about.

Stop that nonsense.

The Deputy does not know anything about people in Dublin. I ask him to stop that old nonsense.

I know plenty but this is not the time to raise this issue.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle, the Taoiseach and party leaders for their very kind good wishes for Deputy Catherine Murphy and me. We very much appreciate them. I want to return to an issue I raised with the Taoiseach last month, that is, changes in Revenue's rules about the taxation of GP income, which very much affect GP charities. I am thinking, in particular, of a charity run by Dr. Austin O'Carroll called GPCareForAll. The Minister beside the Taoiseach, Deputy Donohoe, will be very familiar with the terrific ser…

Last week on the Order of Business, I raised with the Taoiseach that seven years ago, as Minister for Health, he gave a commitment to introduce a statutory right to home care. Given the failure of that Government and the current Government to follow through on that commitment, I asked for a debate on that issue today. We have a debate, but it is not on the statutory right to home care. It is on statutory home care provision, which is a very different matter. What we are talking about today is regulation, and while …

He could be in another party.

I agree with a certain amount of the sentiment behind this amendment although I do not entirely agree with the wording. I will repeat a point I made on Second Stage, which is that, while it is sometimes a result of need, people very often consciously choose a childminder because they like the informality and the lower minder-child ratio. It is often viewed as being more homely than a congregated setting. That point needs to be respected and taken account of. As I said on Second Stage, it is a difficult balance to s…

From what I understand of these amendments, I welcome what the Minister of State is saying there and the provision for the making of regulations. Given the shortages of healthcare staff, we need to maximise the capacity of all existing staff and services. Community pharmacies have particular benefits for the roll-out of different health initiatives, not least because they are in every single community and are very accessible. To a large extent, people feel freer about going into a community pharmacy. Generally spea…

My other amendment is on contraception. Is the Minister of State saying that these amendments will facilitate the extension of the management of chronic illness as a set of conditions by community pharmacists?