Mr. Ian Scott:

I can provide three answers. The derogation is available to us until January 2022. There is a three-year period between entry into force and the actual date of accessibility. The derogation is available now. That has also been confirmed in a letter from the EU to Mr. Martin Blake. In our opinion this is being pushed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is not a European problem. The EU has quite rightly said that these products are to be prescription-only, but the derogation was implemented for a specific reason, namely, to ensure that vets do not have exclusivity on veterinary prescriptions. The Department is pushing this. I will leave the committee members to discuss this with the Department.

Finally, the Deputy raised cross-Border problems to do with the unlicensed import of medicines. It will only take one report finding that thousands of litres of unregulated product are pouring across the Border from the UK into Ireland to absolutely wreck the reputation for quality of Ireland's meat and poultry exports. It will damage traceability and many other concerns. We cannot allow that to happen. There is too much at stake.