Mr. Colm Forde:

From what I understand, the default position is that all veterinary medicines that are used in flu-producing animals require a veterinary prescription. That is in Irish law. No person other than a veterinary practitioner has ever been permitted by law to issue a veterinary prescription. The current legislation is consistent with that. If we look outside the regulation, what has changed is that Ireland previously availed of a derogation whereby if there was no evidence of resistance to antiparasitic medicines or no evidence of environmental damage relating to them, those products could be made available without a prescription so that is how these products were permitted to be dispensed in Ireland by responsible persons and persons other than vets. The previous witnesses referred to the expert task force of the HPRA in 2019 which scientifically concluded that there is widespread resistance to these products and widespread evidence of environmental damage. In that context, the exemptions in European law which allowed these products to be provided without prescription have now changed. That HPRA report was produced after the regulation was negotiated. Apologies if that is a long-winded answer.