Prior to an agreement between the IPU and the Department of Health, both the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) and the Tánaiste, Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) faced questions on changes to monitored dosage systems and blister packing.
Sharing the experience of a 96-year-old woman living within his constituency, Deputy Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Féin) shared his views on the importance of blister packs in ensuring that she took the right medication. He highlighted the importance of monitored dosage systems in supporting older people and people with disabilities in safely taking their medication.
He called on the Government to “reverse its decision and ensure vulnerable people can continue getting blister packs free of charge”.
Deputy Guirke’s parliamentary colleague echoed his criticism of the Government’s decision to change how phased dispensing worked. Deputy Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Féin) asked the Minister for Health if “holders of long-term illness cards are entitled to receive blister packs free of charge where they are clinically required”. The Minister for Health explained to the Deputy that “the State has never funded monitored dosage systems for any cohort or patient” and that there was no entitlement for long-term illness card holders to receive blister packs.
Deputy Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour Party) requested an update from the Minister for Health regarding the ongoing discussions about changes to monitored dosing. This followed the Government’s decision to postpone implementing the adjustments to phased dispensing, as outlined in the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025, and the commitment to further engagement with the Department of Health, the HSE, and the IPU.
The Minister reiterated her stance that the State had never funded monitored dosage systems and that “there had been no change to that service by the State”.
She shared that the changes related to phased dispensing, and that these changes would come into effect from 31 March 2026. She also said that there was ongoing engagement with the Department, the HSE, and the IPU, but that she was not in a position to update the Deputy on the specifics of these discussions.
Deputy Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fáil), in a parliamentary question, asked the Minister to introduce an Allergy Action Plan, specifically for schools. He called on the Minister to introduce a plan that would include “education and training to ensure that the use of epinephrine auto-injectors is properly addressed in schools” as an important step in helping ensure all children were safe in schools.
The Minister responded and shared that there were provisions for schools and workplaces to store medication for administration by a trained person. However, she also advised that “community pharmacies are the most accessible and trusted healthcare providers in Ireland”.
Reflecting on this and to ensure that communities were equipped to respond to emergency situations, the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025 established an Emergency Medicine Administration Preparedness Allowance, which would provide an annual recurring allowance of €525 so pharmacists were “trained and ready to respond” to emergency allergy situations within the community.
In the Seanad, Senator Teresa Costello (Dublin South-West, Fianna Fáil) used her time during a Commencement Matters debate to highlight the same issue. She shared that “for those living with food allergies, the risk of anaphylaxis is constant”.
She said that oral immunotherapy for these allergies had been shown to be effective and called for this treatment to be rolled out by the HSE. In her response, Minister Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fáil) said that the Government was examining public health preparedness for allergies through the Emergency Medicine Administration Preparedness Allowance and the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025.
Through his contribution to a debate on a Sinn Féin Private Members Motion on Cancer Services, Minister of State for Older People, Kieran O’Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) raised the Government’s planned investment in third-level healthcare courses.
In his amendments to the Sinn Féin Motion, the Minister noted the Government’s investment in healthcare education, with a €28.5 million investment in the delivery of more than “1,100 additional healthcare training places annually over the next three years across medicine, nursing, therapy professions, pharmacy and dentistry.”
During a discussion on the facilities available for students at third-level, Deputy Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Féin) raised the conditions of buildings on the Waterford campus of the South-East Technological University with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science, James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fáil).
In his response, the Minister said that, through his Department, there would be considerable investment in SETU’s Waterford campus, including in its healthcare provision through the introduction of a new pharmacy programme.
Access to and expansion of third-level healthcare courses was also raised by Senator Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Féin) during a Committee on Further and Higher Education engagement with representatives from Ireland’s third-level universities. The Senator asked the witnesses to the Committee what was being done to address shortages in the healthcare space.
Professor Stephen Byrne with University College Cork (UCC) shared that the Higher Education Authority had held a number of expressions of interest to expand programmes across the country. He shared that UCC has already expanded its provision of physiotherapy and radiology and would be very open to expanding its provision in other areas including its existing pharmacy programme.
Deputy Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fáil) raised vaccination programmes with the Minister for Health and asked her to explain the decision-making process in providing live attenuate influenza vaccine (LAIV) in schools on an opt-in basis.
The Deputy requested the information to understand the cost-effectiveness, capacity, safety and clinical analyses undertaken and the reason for utilising GP and pharmacy-led delivery models, as opposed to the HSE school-based model. As this was an operational matter for the HSE, the Minister referred the question to the HSE.
Funding supports available from the Government to alleviate the cost of pharmacy services was the focus of Deputy Robert O’Donoghue’s (Dublin Fingal West, Labour Party) question to the Minister for Health.
He asked the Minister if, in light of reports that pharmacies were charging patients for the delivery of prescription medications, “she will outline the funding or supports available”. He expressed his concern that patients who were unable to travel to their local pharmacy should be able to continue accessing their medicines without financial burden.
The Minister for Health advised that while there was a scheme to ensure that individuals received necessary medical services and prescription medicines at reduced costs or free of charge, she clarified that “the costs of delivering services has never been reimbursed under these schemes.”
Deputy Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Féin) asked the Minister for Health if there was a regular scheduled rota for out-of-hours pharmacy service in Enniscorthy. The Minister advised that “opening times are a commercial matter for each pharmacy” and that, where a pharmacy chose to deliver contracted services on behalf of the State, the contract made provisions for the local schemes to ensure that pharmacies were open to provide services at all reasonable times.
In a Commencement Matters debate in the Seanad, Senator Alison Comyn (Louth, Fianna Fáil) raised the availability of melatonin over the counter in pharmacies. In raising this issue, Senator Comyn shared that while free HRT had been transformative for many women, there were further supports that should be available for women experiencing menopause, including broken or disrupted sleep.
The Senator shared that melatonin was widely available in many countries and was available without prescription at low doses in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, the United States and Canada. Calling on the Minister for Health to consider making it available over the counter, she highlighted that “it was also a great help to neurodivergent children who have difficulty sleeping or need to be made calm before bedtime”.
Minister of State Jennifer Murnane O’Connor (Fianna Fáil, Carlow-Kilkenny) advised that the HPRA (Health Products Regulatory Authority) was open to reviewing any application from a marketing authorisation holder (MAH) to change the prescription status of melatonin to non-prescription status, “in line with the HPRA policy to make medicines and health products available at the most convenient point of access for people”, but that there had not been any specific MAH applications under review at that time.
As the Dáil entered a new term, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Chief Whip Mary Butler produced a new Government Legislative Programme for Summer 2026.
Marked as legislation for priority drafting for the Dáil Summer session was the Enabling Pharmacist Prescribing within the Free Contraception Scheme, which aimed to include pharmacist prescription of contraception within the eligibility for the free contraception scheme. The Heads of this Bill were approved in March 2026 and were likely to be published by the Minister for Health in the coming weeks.
Other legislation which the Government was prioritising for the next term included the Health (Pharmacy and Prescribing) Bill, which revised elements of the Pharmacy Act 2007 to enable the PSI to streamline its functions. The Bill would also seek to update legislation to better support the Department’s eHealth strategy.
Brian Harrison
Managing Director, MKC Communications
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