Boots currently offers 24-hour pharmacy services at 51 of its British stores, mainly at the shops at the edges of major cities such as Leeds, Newcastle and Oxford, under the Midnight Pharmacy brand.

The company began offering the service in Britain in 2005 and it plans to expand it so that there will be a shop with a Midnight Pharmacy within a 30-minute drive for the majority of the British population.

"The service has been very popular, particularly with shift workers and commuters, who appreciate being able to get their prescriptions at times that suit them, " said a Boots spokeswoman.

She said Boots had no "de"nite" plans about offering the service here but she said that it may "open a midnight pharmacy at some stage in the future in Ireland".

She said that Boots had registered the brand as a trademark in Ireland as a matter of course. "It is general company policy to register all its trademarks in the countries where Boots operates, " she said.

Boots is currently expanding its Irish operations and announced plans last year to open 30 new stores over the next "ve years.