Online Pharmacies
It is illegal to supply medicines by mail order, i.e. the supplier (and anyone who facilitates them by, for example, providing the office building from which they process orders) is committing an offence.
It is not strictly speaking illegal to get medicines by mail order, i.e. your friend would not be committing the offence although the supplier would.
HOWEVER, if her medicine is also controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Acts and Regulations (and if it's a drug that has street value, it probably is), then it's illegal for her to possess it unless she's received it on a valid prescription, and a prescription that's been written for the purpose of getting something by mail order is not considered to be legally valid. So she could be done for illegal possession, not specifically the fact she got it by mail order. [This only applies to controlled products, not all products.]
Also, would you be happy to get medicines from someone who knowingly breaks the law by supplying stuff illegally?
Well, I'm writing this four years after the quoted message, so I don't know how much things have changed. And I'll add that I don't know how strictly some laws are enforced.
The thing about online pharmacies, however, is that there are a number of Canadian pharmacies online and they're quite legitimate. This is because of the ban in the US on reimported drugs, which Obama didn't attempt to lift, so Canadian Pharmacies do a thriving business with US customers. US customs could crack down on it, but they don't seem to bother. Many of those Canadian pharmacies will ship overseas as well and the savings, even with shipping charges included, can be remarkable. The reason for this is because many drugs in Ireland are not yet available in generic form, whereas in Canada, they often are.
Irish law does not apply to Canadian pharmacies - and in Canada, it is not against the law. As for the legitimacy of the company, well, I suspect most of them are legit, but one has to follow one's intuition. If they have a street address and phone numbers, can be reached by phone, and have certain standards in requirements for faxed or emailed prescriptions, I doubt if there's much to worry about.
The online pharmacies I'd distrust are the Spanish ones. I'd be very careful of those. I was delighted to see the list of German pharmacies that have been rated - that's encouraging.
As for being in possession of online supplied drugs, if you actually have a legit prescription for those drugs, I find it hard to imagine that the Irish govt. will prosecute over the technicality of how drugs were received.
In most countries, including and even especially this one, there are a range of draconian laws on the books that are not enforced. Governments always keep these tyrannical options open to themselves. In the US, federal laws are so convoluted, the chances are that 90% of the adult population has broken one or more here or there in their lives without realizing it. It's remarkable who can be prosecuted under RICO laws, for instance, just as here it's shocking who can be picked up and detained under emergency legislation - I mean, for instance,
vandals (!!) for God's sake!
Anyone who lives near the border or knows someone regularly travelling back and forth between the republic and NI should get prescriptions filled in NI, really. And request generics, where possible.