Pharmacists have accused the Government of leaving them in limbo, after the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, published the report of the Pharmacy Review Group without comment.
The report was published on the Department's website 13 months after it was submitted but the Government has not made any decision on its implementation and Mr Martin did not indicate when it might go before Cabinet.
A spokesman for Mr Martin said there were legal issues outstanding in relation to some of the review group's proposals but, given the delay, the Department had decided to publish the report.
Pharmacists said the findings of the report "threaten the future of independent pharmacies", but the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) president said the current lack of any regulatory structure was as damaging.
Rules governing the number and location of pharmacies were swept away by the Minister in January 2002 after a number of them were challenged in the courts.
It is understood the Attorney General's office is concerned about proposals to impose an 8 per cent limit on the number of community pharmacy contracts held by any group in a single health board area. Such contracts are considered vital to the viability of a pharmacy operation.
The concern centres on whether the setting of an arbitrary limit could prove unconstitutional. The alternatives would be to set no limit, as proposed by the Competition Authority, or limit ownership on a qualitative basis - for instance, allowing only pharmacists to own chemists. That would be closer to the position sought by the IPU.
The Competition Authority gave the report a mixed response, saying it would improve transparency in some areas but did not go far enough in promoting competition in others.
The Pharmacy Review Group was set up under Prof Michael Mortell to consider regulation of the sector after a critical OECD report. That report was particularly opposed to restrictions on the location and number of pharmacies and on the bar on foreign-trained pharmacists owning or running chemists in the State.
The review group report supports the end of the derogation but only when a new Pharmacy Act is in place, including provisions governing fitness to practise. It suggests this should be implemented within 18 months.
It is unlikely the Government will meet that July 2004 deadline although a pharmacy bill is provided for in its legislative agenda. The last significant Pharmacy Act dates back to 1962.
The OECD has issued similarly critical reports on the regulatory regime for pharmacies in other EU countries. However, the Republic apart, this does not seem to have led to fundamental reform of the sector, although Germany is loosening its rules to allow ownership of up to five outlets by a single person or group.
Opposition politicians and lobby groups on both sides of the argument criticised the timing and the manner of the report's release.
"The Government are treating the issue with a certain amount of disdain," said Labour health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus.
