On 17 September, the Health Service Executive announced new reimbursement arrangements for community pharmacists under the GMS and community drugs schemes. These new pricing arrangements are due to come into effect next Saturday, 1 December. In response, pharmacists have threatened to withdraw from dispensing medicines under the GMS scheme. If that goes ahead next Saturday, medical card holders throughout the country will be unable to fill their prescriptions in the normal way at their chemists. The problem has arisen because the HSE claims it cannot negotiate directly with the Irish Pharmaceutical Union because of the provisions of the Competition Act. I understand some form of consultative process has been put in place under Mr. Bill Shipsey, SC to substitute for direct negotiations.

Can the Taoiseach assure the House that all medical card holders in the country will be able to have their prescriptions filled in the normal way in their local pharmacy after next Saturday? Second, will implementation of the pricing arrangements announced by the HSE be deferred from 1 December to allow negotiations to take place? Third, does the Taoiseach accept that when the Competition Act was passed it was not intended by any Member of the House that it would be used to prevent direct discussions taking place between the Health Service Executive and bodies such as the Irish Pharmaceutical Union? Is he prepared to accept the Labour Party Private Members' Bill, in the name of Deputy Michael D. Higgins, which would amend the Competition Act to allow bodies such as the Irish Pharmaceutical Union and Irish Actors Equity to negotiate directly with appropriate State agencies on behalf of their members?

I wish to return for a moment to Deputy Kenny's question. When he asked me about the Minister's position, I answered as if it was the Minister's responsibility. Of course, the reason for the legal position is that the Minister did not commission the report. The HSE commissioned it, so legally the HSE must get clearance for the report. That is the point in law.

Wonderful. The Taoiseach got the word just in time.

The HSE will then censor the report the Minister receives.

In reply to Deputy Gilmore, we are making every effort to try to bring the pharmacy issue to a resolution. Members have met a large number of pharmacists and my colleagues raised the issue with me last week. We have been trying to find a resolution; there are a number of elements involved. Discussions between the HSE and the IPU have continued under Mr. Bill Shipsey, SC on a mechanism to establish the community pharmacy contract. Considerable progress has been made and the HSE management considers it appropriate to allow further time for this process to proceed. The HSE has decided to defer the implementation of the reimbursement rates on 1 December to a later date. That pressure is therefore removed. Members will welcome that decision. It is an issue my colleagues had asked me to raise.

Following the completion of the new agreements with the drugs manufacturers last year, the HSE announced the new arrangements on the margins on 17 September. That affects the basic supply of drugs and medicines. This is distinct from the dispensing fees paid to the community pharmacists under the medical card and drugs payment scheme. The new price arrangements will not come into force on 1 December.

With regard to the Deputy's question about the process of dialogue established under Mr. Shipsey, that process is continuing. As the union does not appear to accept the legal position under the Competition Act, the Minister for Health and Children has been exploring, in consultation with the Attorney General and other relevant Departments, the best way of progressing the development of a new contract with pharmacists. Those discussions are ongoing. Obviously, the Government and Minister are anxious to find a way of making a new arrangement for arriving at revised pricing arrangements for a new pharmacy contract, consistent with the legal advice the Minister has received. Any new process must be consistent with competition law. As I told the House a few weeks ago, it is not Irish competition law but European competition law.

It is not.

It is.

It is not.

Well, the Deputy is an expert but I am told it is.

I know more than the Taoiseach and he made a commitment to change it in social partnership.

It is planned that there will be continued engagement under Mr. Shipsey as the best way for both pharmacists and the HSE to continue to discuss the matter of mutual interest. Efforts are continuing. However, the pressure whereby people were being told that after Saturday they would have to start paying or make other arrangements, which was not factual in any case, has been avoided.

I welcome the fact that the HSE has deferred the 1 December deadline. That will be a great relief for many medical card holders, pensioners and others who have been concerned about their access to prescription medicines. There was a great deal of worry about it. I hope the process under way will result in a new agreement on pricing arrangements which will avoid problems arising in the future.

However, what gave rise to this is the problem with the Competition Act. It is absurd that the Act is being used or interpreted in a way that amounts to competition dogma gone mad, where common sense is thrown out the window. It is absurd that a body such as the HSE cannot meet with the Irish Pharmaceutical Union and directly work out the pricing arrangements. Similarly, actors, for example, who do voice-overs for advertisements cannot have their fees negotiated by Irish Actors Equity. That is ludicrous.

There is a need to change the Competition Act to allow for common sense discussions and negotiations to take place in the normal way between unions and professional bodies representing their members and the different agencies to whom they provide services. Will the Taoiseach examine the Bill prepared by the Labour Party and tabled by Deputy Higgins which would address this problem by amending the Competition Act to allow for common sense discussions to take place directly? The situation with pharmacists at the moment is that the two sides cannot talk to each other directly so they must each separately send a representative into a room with Mr. Shipsey and talk through him. It is nonsense.

It is expensive.

It was devised to get around the problem of the Competition Act. I welcome the fact that the immediate threat of problems with prescriptions for medical card holders on 1 December has been lifted, at least for the time being. However, the core problem with the Competition Act needs to be addressed. I ask the Taoiseach again to consider seriously the Bill tabled by the Labour Party.

I acknowledge Deputy Gilmore's point about the urgency with regard to what will happen on Saturday. This was presented to me by my colleagues last week. The recent developments are helpful and will allow the negotiations to continue. As Deputy Gilmore will appreciate, I would be the first one to say that negotiations are necessary on every issue. It is what I believe in. The difficulty with the Competition Act not just from the point of view of pharmacists, but in other areas, is that the case was being put forward that to allow cartels or any group of people to fix their prices and arrangements was to prevent proper competition. That is where the current arrangements came from. The Competition Authority devised the system. Obviously, it creates difficulties.

The HSE is setting the prices.

I am answering Deputy Gilmore. When the HSE, the Attorney General, the IPU and the APMI sought legal advice they all received the same advice from their eminent legal representatives that this was the difficulty. That is where the current system came from. It is creating problems in a number of areas. The difficulty in finding a resolution is the need to avoid returning to the cartel-type arrangements that were creating problems——

Section 4 of the Act could be amended.

——and which were frequently mentioned in the House. To answer Deputy Gilmore's question, I have asked that this be considered because it is unsatisfactory that a representative body cannot talk to whom it would see as its people.

We are offering a simple solution.

We must find a system that is legally sustainable and I have asked the Attorney General to do that.

The Taoiseach is acknowledging that the Labour Party position is correct.

Everybody wants to take their tablets.