Vol. 185 No. 8
asked the Minister for Health if it is a fact that a qualified assistant, when employed by a chemist, may carry out all the functions of a qualified chemist when working for an inadequate wage, even though he is unable to carry out the same practice on his own account should he attempt to set up a business of his own; and, if so, if he intends to seek any remedy for this situation.
8.
asked the Minister for Health whether there is a temporary absence clause in the present Pharmacy Acts which entitles a qualified chemist to delegate to an assistant dispensing and other pharmaceutical work which the assistant is not permitted to carry out on his own account; if so, if he is aware that this clause is open to abuse by chemists if used to ensure a continuous supply of cheap labour to run their business in their absence; and what action he proposes to take in the matter.
9.
asked the Minister for Health if there is any limit to the period in a working year during which a chemist empowered to employ an assistant under the temporary absence clause of the Pharmacy Acts must in fact spend in his premises supervising the work of his assistant.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 9 together.
I do not accept the reprehensible innuendo in the first two questions.
A qualified assistant is a person who, having passed the preliminary examination of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, equivalent to Leaving Certificate, or Matriculation of the National University of Ireland, having served a three years apprenticeship in an approved pharmacy and having attended a full-time course of one term's duration in the College of Pharmacy has passed the Pharmaceutical Assistants Examination and been admitted to the register of Pharmaceutical Assistants. The difference in the negotiated salaries between that of a qualified assistant and that of a qualified chemist, point for point on the scale, is small.
Section 19 of the Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, Amendment Act, 1890 provides that a qualified assistant may "transact the business of a licentiate of the Pharmaceutical Society or of a registered dispensing chemist and druggist in his temporary absence but shall not be entitled to conduct or manage a business or to keep open shop on their own account.,, The term "temporary absence,, is not defined.
I do not consider that it is necessary for me to take any action in the matter.
