Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 January 2026
2134. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Health the number of pharmacy inspections carried out by the PSI in each year 2020 to date in 2025, broken down by inspection type including systems inspections, risk-based inspections and re-inspections and by on-site versus remote/desktop inspections where relevant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [74202/25]
View answerI propose to answer Questions Nos. 2132, 2133 and 2134 together. My Department has engaged with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (The PSI) and they have submitted the information below in response to your question.
The PSI derives its inspection authority from the provisions of Part 7 of the Pharmacy Act, which provides the spectrum and range of actions used for the purposes of ascertaining whether any offence under a relevant enactment, any breach of a code of conduct or any professional misconduct has been committed.
Risk-based inspections are undertaken following a review of information available to the PSI. They may be focused on a particular area or the general operation of the pharmacy, including inspection/compliance history, or where a member of the public or an external body has raised a concern. Risk-based inspections may include systems inspections, focused/thematic inspections or re-inspections to a pharmacy where required.
|
Year |
Total number of inspections |
Risk-based Inspections |
|
|
2020 |
36 |
24 |
All inspections conducted onsite |
|
2021 |
29 |
25 |
All inspections conducted onsite |
|
2022 |
112 |
97 |
3 new opening inspections conducted virtually |
|
2023 |
175 |
143 |
13 new opening inspections conducted virtually |
|
2024 |
365 |
347 |
All inspections conducted onsite |
|
2025 |
328 |
295 |
All onsite except one new opening inspection conducted virtually |
