Rules protecting pharmacies from competition may be relaxed, the Minister for Health and Children has indicated. He said new a Pharmacy Bill would be published in the autumn.
The rules, introduced five years ago, have been criticised by the Consumers' Association, the Competition Authority and TDs.
People wanting to set up new pharmacies have to convince the chief executive of their health board of the public health need for a pharmacy. They can be rejected if the board believes the viability of an existing pharmacy is endangered, even if that pharmacy is in another town.
An application to open a pharmacy in Knock, Co Mayo, was rejected last year, although the village has two million pilgrims a year and no pharmacy. Also last year, an application to include a pharmacy in a shopping centre planned for Moyross Estate in Limerick was rejected, although there is no pharmacy on the estate of nearly 5,000 people. The decision is under appeal to the Minister.
A hint that a relaxation of the rules may be on the way came in a written reply to Fine Gael consumer affairs spokesman Mr Michael Creed in which the Minister, Mr Martin, said "the appropriate balance to be struck between public safety considerations and the general desire to remove any unnecessary obstacles to competition will be considered" in the new Bill.
Mr Creed said yesterday that, increasingly, pharmacies were being bought by people who own pharmacies elsewhere, "which makes it difficult for new entrants".
Mr Declan Purcell, a member of the Competition Authority, claimed the legislation operated purely as a protection to existing pharmacies, including inefficient pharmacies while the Consumers' Association of Ireland has condemned the rules as effectively setting up a cartel for those who owned pharmacies before 1996. The Minister argues the rules help to enhance the service given by pharmacists. The Irish Pharmaceutical Union was invited to comment on the matter but did not do so.