The Government has been accused of a \u201cScrooge-like\u201d response over possible charges for dispensing medicine in blister packs from January, the D\u00e1il has heard.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Matt Carthy said elderly people could face bills of up to \u20ac50 per month in pharmacy fees for medicines in blister packs, saying that they will not be able to absorb the cost.<\/p>\n
Blister packs are the type of pre-formed plastic packaging used for some pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlister packs are not a luxury. They\u2019re a lifeline. Tens of thousands rely on them, older people managing multiple medications, people with dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s, those with intellectual disabilities, brain injuries, mental health challenges,\u201d Mr Carthy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarers and frontline workers know exactly what will happen without them, because these packs allow people to live independently.”<\/p>\n
Communications minister Patrick O\u2019Donovan said there is still an opportunity for the HSE to engage with the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) over blister pack charges, adding he expected talks to take place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality here as well is that health has now the largest budget that it has ever had, \u20ac27bn into health for 2026. It\u2019s not an insignificant amount of money,\u201d Mr O\u2019Donovan said.<\/p>\n
Mr Carthy said the Government does not understand people struggling with the cost of living.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people, vulnerable people, who need blister packs to get by in their day-to-day lives to have some semblance of independence,\u201d Mr Carthy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently [they] get those blister packs free of charge and you, your Scrooge-like Government, through your Scrooge-like minister, are going to charge them \u20ac20, \u20ac30, maybe even \u20ac50 per month come the new year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fine Gael minister hit back at Mr Carthy, saying Sinn F\u00e9in \u201cdo a very good job of pretending that you have a monopoly on people\u2019s concerns in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Donovan accused Sinn F\u00e9in of being \u201cincapable of understanding\u201d where the income of the State comes from, amid interruptions from the opposition benches.<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s Conor Sheehan criticised both Fine Gael and Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s bickering in the D\u00e1il chamber.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann, not Kilmallock cattle mart. Every Thursday we\u2019re treated to the same thing,\u201d Mr Sheehan said.<\/p>\n
There was further commotion in the D\u00e1il, with Sinn F\u00e9in TD Mark Ward calling Mr Sheehan a \u201cmuppet\u201d.<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s Ged Nash called for Mr Ward to withdraw the remark, adding it is \u201cnot acceptable\u201d in parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government has been accused of a \u201cScrooge-like\u201d response over possible charges for dispensing medicine in blister packs…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":442441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[210,1060,9480,67,132,68,15649],"class_list":{"0":"post-442440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-mens-health","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-womens-health"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115706844864533911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}