The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) has called for the immediate publication of a report into payments for pharmacists.
In a statement today, the IPU said the delay in the publication of the Pharmacy Pricing Body Report, which was completed last month, was helping to fuel the current crisis in the pharmacy sector.
IPU president Ms Liz Hoctor called on the Minister for Health to public the report as a matter of urgency. She said her members needed to see if the report's recommendations could help them deal with the HSE's "unilateral, and what we believe to ba an unlawful, decision to reduce their payments by 30 per cent".
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said Ms Harney was considering the report prior to submitting it to the Government.
In March, hundreds of pharmacists came close to pulling out of dispensing medicines for patients under community drugs schemes in protest at the introduction of the controversial new pricing arrangement.
Pharmacists withdrew their threat to withdraw after the independent body examining pharmacists' payments signalled that it could look at alternatives to the HSE reimbursement cuts.
The independent body, under the chairmanship of Mr Sean Dorgan, was appointed in February to make recommendations on pharmacy payments as an interim measure pending the negotiation of a new contract.
According to Ms Hoctor, the report was initially expected at the end of May, but was subsequently completed in June.
Ms Hoctor said that in the long term, the uncertainty in the sector required a more strategic response. "The most appropriate way forward is for the HSE to reverse its decision so that talks can get underway on a new contract".
The current controversy came about after HSE sought to reduce margins paid to pharmaceutical wholesalers in a bid to save €100 million. However, as it has no direct relationship with the wholesalers, the HSE reduced the reimbursement price paid to pharmacists. It argued that the margins paid to wholesalers were shared with pharmacists.