The Irish Medicines Board (IMB)has decided to allow pharmacists to sell the Morning-After-Pill without prescription and to any age group.

According to reports, the product, NorLevo, can be given to minors as well as adults, at the discretion of pharmacists. The Irish Medicines Board approved NorLevo, one of two brands of emergency contraceptive licensed in Ireland, for use as an over-the-counter medicine from yesterday.

The news comes after new research from the UK shows that easier access to the morning-after-pill has not reduced the number of teenage pregnancies and may be associated with a rise in sexually-transmitted diseases (STIs).

Researchers from the University of Nottingham, Professors David Paton and Sourafel Girma used data from local health authorities to study the effect of Government-backed schemes offering morning-after-pill at pharmacies without prescription have had on conception rates and the diagnosis of STIs among under-18s.

According to their findings, recently published in the Journal of Health Economics, areas operating a pharmacy morning-after-pill scheme saw an overall increase of five percent in the rate of STIs among teenagers — 12 per cent in the under-16s age group.

The schemes may actually be associated with a small increase in the number of teens falling pregnant, the study also said.

Meanwhile, the Boots pharmacy chain was told by the IMB it was breaking the law by making the morning after pill available without prescription for the past month under a protocol drawn up by its medical director.

Boots began supplying the drug over the counter under what were called “patient group directions” in January, but the board said last night there was no provision for these in Irish legislation.

“The position of the IMB, as the regulatory authority, is that the supply of prescription-only medicines under patient group directions is unlawful,” it said.

It emerged yesterday that HRA Pharma, the manufacturers of NorLevo, one of two brands of morning after pill licensed by the board for use in the State, lodged an application to have its product made available over the counter last month after seeing the demand for emergency contraception when it was available without prescription in Boots.

Its application to make the product available without prescription was approved this time within weeks by the board.

The second morning after pill licensed for use here and the one which has had 95 per cent of market share – Levonelle – is now only available on prescription, the board said, following its decision that Boots’s actions in supplying it over the counter were unlawful.

The Irish Pharmacy Union welcomed the availability of the drug.

Spokeswoman Kate Healy said it was up to the discretion of pharmacists to decide whether or not to dispense it to a minor. Guidelines were being produced at the moment by the Pharmacy Regulator to deal with how the drug will be dispensed, she said.