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Covid-19 – Cancellation of all upcoming face-to-face meetings at the HPRA offices

News Category: -none-

Date: 12/03/2020

The HPRA is actively monitoring and adhering to public health guidelines issued by the Department of Health and the HSE in relation to COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Our absolute focus is on supporting all efforts to protect public health and to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all our staff.

As announced by the Taoiseach earlier today, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has made a recommendation that Ireland move to Delay Phase which means new measures are now being introduced which are intended to interrupt the transmission of COVID-19.

As a result, and as per the latest guidelines, the HPRA is taking action to reduce workplace contacts at our offices on Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2. This includes:

the implementation of remote working practices for our staff where feasible; and
the cancellation of all face-to-face meetings scheduled to take place in our offices between now and Sunday 29 March 2020.

We therefore request stakeholders not to visit our offices during this time or to travel here for meetings. If you have a meeting scheduled with HPRA staff, we will contact you to confirm if it will be possible to hold the meeting via teleconferencing. Alternatively, it may be necessary to reschedule meetings for a future date.

The HPRA is also cancelling routine compliance inspections at the sites of regulated companies until Sunday 29 March 2020 but will remain in ongoing contact with industry stakeholders. Should we believe an urgent inspection is necessary, the HPRA will follow public health advice in relation to any required precautions.

If you need to contact us at the HPRA, then please continue to do so as normal during office hours via e-mail or phone. If you have any specific regulatory queries linked to Covid-19, please e-mail covid19@hpra.ie inserting Covid-19 in the subject line.

This announcement will not impact on our ongoing focus to protect public and animal health. In respect of Covid-19 specifically, we will continue to work in partnership nationally with the Department of Health, the HSE and healthcare professionals to minimise and proactively address any risks posed to the ongoing of supply of medicines and medical devices to Irish patients. We are also working in partnership with the European Medicines Agency and the EU Commission to respond appropriately at an international level. We have a dedicated Covid-19 section on our website and this will include all relevant regulatory updates linked to Covid-19 and the products we regulate.

We will also publish any updates regarding the temporary measures outlined above. The Government has stated that the impact of these measures will be under continuous review.

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