Minister for Health makes new appointments to PSI Council and Denis O'Driscoll is appointed PSI President

The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill T.D., has appointed six members to the PSI Council with four new appointments and two reappointments. Their appointments commenced on 21 June for a four-year term on the PSI’s governing board.  

The new appointees are pharmacists Margaret Donnelly, Leon O'Hagan, Áine Mac Grory and Nigel Moloney. A fifth pharmacist, Adj. Professor John Given, has been reappointed to serve a second term, along with the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) nominee, Grainne Power. All members of the PSI Council are appointed by the Minister for Health to act in the public interest in overseeing the regulatory responsibilities of the PSI as the pharmacy regulator.  

At its meeting today, the PSI Council also elected Dr. Denis O’Driscoll as PSI President (chair) and Professor Laura Sahm as Vice-President. The President and Vice-President are elected from amongst the Council for a one-year term and may hold office for up to two years. 

Dr. Denis O’Driscoll was appointed to the PSI Council in 2023 and has served as the PSI Vice-President. He is a pharmacist with many years of experience working across a variety of pharmacy practice settings, notably as Chief Pharmacist with the HSE’s Addiction Services for over twenty years. Since 2018, he is the Superintendent Pharmacist for the McCabe’s Pharmacy group (formerly Lloyds Pharmacy). He is also the voluntary independent chair of the Naloxone Advisory Group for the HSE Strategy on Overdose Prevention and lectures on pharmacy and public health programmes at Trinity College Dublin. 

Prof. Laura Sahm was also appointed to the PSI Council in 2023. She is the current representative on the Council for the Schools of Pharmacy in Ireland. Laura is the Vice Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Head of Clinical Pharmacy Practice at University College Cork (UCC). She has worked previously as a pharmacist in a range of community, hospital and research positions in Europe and Ireland. 

Together with the Council, the President and Vice-President will continue to support the work of the PSI and ensure its good governance. This includes its statutory regulatory responsibilities and initiatives set under the Council’s recently launched Corporate Strategy 2025-2028, including a significant role in implementing national policy actions envisaged for pharmacy in the short and medium term.  

The PSI is governed by a 21-member Council, with a non-pharmacist majority. Council members are appointed by the Minister for Health in accordance with the Pharmacy Act 2007. The Council meets at least six times each year and is responsible for setting the strategy for the PSI, and overseeing the functions of the PSI, in the public interest.