Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2018
381. Deputy Kate O'Connell asked the Minister for Health if the status of pharmaceutical assistants is changed, the person or body that will be responsible for paying redundancy to the persons who lose their jobs. [52919/18]
View answerThe Pharmacy Act 2007 established the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) and the functions of the Society are set out in the Act. The functions of the PSI are carried out on its behalf by the Council of the Society.
Section 30 of the Pharmacy Act 2007 provides for an exception to the general provision in the Act which requires the sale and supply of medicines at a pharmacy to be conducted under the personal supervision of a registered pharmacist, and specifies that no offence is committed where a registered pharmaceutical assistant “acts on behalf of a registered pharmacist during the temporary absence of the registered pharmacist”.
Section 30 also permits the Council to make rules, subject to the consent of the Minister, as to:
What may or may not be done by a registered pharmaceutical assistant when acting on behalf of a registered pharmacist; and
What constitutes the temporary absence of a registered pharmacist.
Following a period of public consultation, the Council of the PSI considered the proposed draft Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (Temporary Absence of Pharmacist from Pharmacy) Rules 2018 at its meeting of 20 September 2018, where the Council approved the draft rules without amendment. Following this, the PSI undertook to redraft the Rules in relation to what may or not be done by a registered pharmaceutical assistant when acting on behalf of a registered pharmacist.
On 06 December, the Council of the PSI approved a revised draft of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (Temporary Absence of Pharmacist from Pharmacy) Rules 2018 for issuance for public consultation. This public consultation commenced on 13 December 2018 and is due to run until 11 January 2019.
Subsequent to this public consultation phase the draft Rules must again be approved by the Council before being submitted to me for my consent. This Council approval is not anticipated until early in 2019.
My role in relation to this process is limited to the consideration of any such Rules once submitted for my approval. I must consider any Rules presented to me from a fair and impartial perspective, without prejudice or prejudgment.
I await the receipt of the Rules for my consideration from the PSI and, until that time, I am unfortunately not in a position to comment any further on the matter raised.
