Mr. Peadar Ó Scanaill:

Senator Paul Daly suggested that someone would sign the form and then be gone again but it is written in primary legislation that the certificate of suitability is granted to the veterinary practitioner who carries on the practice of veterinary medicine at the premises. It goes further and outlines reasons for restricting or revoking the certificate, one of which is that the veterinary practitioner is no longer practising veterinary medicine at the premises. What the Senator described, in terms of someone signing a form and then being gone two days later, means that automatically, the certificate is gone. The entire control of the practice is in the hands of the veterinary practitioners. That is very important for us because we cannot regulate non-veterinary practitioners. We can only regulate veterinary practitioners or veterinary nurses who are members of the profession and registered with us. It was very important for us, in terms of the code, that it meant the veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses, that is, the registrants, had full and ultimate control over the provision of the service to the public. If there was any issue from the public's perspective, they could come to the council. If there was any issue from the perspective of the providers of the service, they could also come to the council or sort it out among themselves on the ground. Obviously there are certain contractual issues in the context of the practices to which the Senator refers and we would need to have all of the relevant information on that before we could comment.