1 in 10 Irish pharmacies is now losing money with rural community chemists more dramatically affected.
That's the key message from the Fitzgerald Power report on pharmacies which highlights the need for an increase in the dispensing fee.
A dispensing fee is what pharmacists charge when filling a prescription to cover costs of storing and preparing medication.
President of the Irish Pharmacy Union, Dermot Twomey, has been outlining the main findings of the report.
He said: "1 in 10 community pharmacies are loss-making currently, and a further 35% have an operating profit of less than 10%.
"So, really what we are seeing is that many pharmacies into the future will be unviable unless there is a change in the core-dispensing fee.
"This is something that we are looking to sit down with the Minister and the Department about going forward."
