The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) National Pharmacy Conference 2026 was the last of the Union’s annual meetings with Mr Tom Murray as President, and he handed the chain of office to his successor, Ms Caoimhe McAuley.
Speaking to Irish Pharmacist (IP) at the conference, Mr Murray described his time at the head of the IPU as “intense and invigorating”. He said: “I’m extremely proud of what we have all achieved as a group. Everyone involved in the IPU has fundamentally changed Irish pharmacy practice, for the benefit of both patients and pharmacists — it is night and day compared to how we were practising even two or three years ago, compared to what we can do today, and the potential that opens up for the future.”
On his time as President, he added: “It has been a really rewarding and enjoyable challenge. It hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes the greatest challenges have come from within, and sometimes they have come from without, but the drive and ambition of the people in the IPU staff and committee is absolutely brilliant, and it has delivered real change.”
Mr Murray also explained how his role in the IPU, along with the inspiration from colleagues and peers, has driven and energised him. “I possibly would have stagnated in my own practice,”
he told IP. “I have been doing this [pharmacy] for 30 years, and I would have probably got to the stage where I thought, ‘this isn’t as interesting as it once was’. But then, when you get involved and realise that there is real potential for change…
“When I first qualified at age 21, I thought I was going to change the world,” he continued. “In the days before the MPharm, I did my Masters on expanding the pharmacist’s role, and it was patients’ acceptance of pharmacists expanding their role, and there was overwhelming support — 80-to-90 per cent of patients in my research said they wanted pharmacists to do more. It has taken 30 years to realise what I was writing about as a young ambitious, opportunistic pharmacist, but this has reinvigorated
me and I want to see so much more from pharmacy practice now.”
Far from stepping away completely,
‘… It is absolutely the time for us to put our foot on the accelerator and drive forward’
Mr Murray remains on the Executive and Finance Committees for the next two years, and is also Treasurer of the World Pharmacy Council, which is dedicated
to the development and sustainability of all roles within the pharmacy sector, as well as expansion of those roles. “It’s a little like the OECD of pharmacy,” said Mr Murray. “It gives us a great perspective on where we are, where we have come from, and how much further we can go.”
He also emphasised that pharmacy must continue to build upon the momentum that has been achieved
in recent years and continue to be proactive in driving the profession forward. “As the new President Caoimhe McAuley said in her address this morning, now is the time to be bold and brave. Irish healthcare is under so much pressure and demand, Irish pharmacy really has the potential to answer an awful lot of the questions and solve a lot of the problems.
“We need to be brave in our aspirations, the State needs to be brave in what it asks us to do to take pressure off elsewhere, and it is absolutely the time for us to put our foot on the accelerator and drive forward. Pharmacy is in a really good place and has become an attractive and inviting profession again.”
He concluded by acknowledging the role of industry partners in helping to facilitate the conference. “Without the exhibitors, we could not host these events, so it’s fundamental that they are here and it’s important that delegates visit the stands, because they deserve that support.”
