Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Did anybody pick up a telephone and talk to someone and ask why the Department could not do this or ask about other ways around it? Why have we not gone down the road that the British have gone down, even if there are extra courses? In fairness to all the people who spoke today, they are willing to do this to bring them up to the standard that ticks the box.

I am asking another question now. With the approval of the Chairman and the rest of the committee, we will bring back the officials in six weeks' time. Is the Department willing or prepared to pull back from its position and some of the stuff that has been said here? Are the officials prepared to sit down with the people involved to thrash out a solution that will be good for the Department, Europe, the dispensers and that, above all, solves the issue for the farmers? Let us be honest about what we are facing here when it comes to the small farmer. It is no more than what Deputy Ring spoke about earlier when he referred to Tesco and Lidl. We need to think of the small shop in the middle of nowhere in Ireland. We need to think of the small farmer as well because he will be unable to afford what is coming down the road if we go with what is being proposed at the moment.

I want to know whether the Department is prepared to go back to the drawing board to sit down with these people. There is this business of driving on with regulations. A regulation is a regulation - we all know that - and a directive is a directive. There is a dispute at the moment over Article 105(4). There is legal evidence on the one side and on the other. Let us see how we can marry it up.

There is one thing we need to do. If I am a veterinary surgeon, it is more a question of the medicines I am trained to use as a vet. I am trained in how to do sections and how to do different things. Why can we not get a course like the one the British have available? It brings the suitably qualified person up to the standard. It allows Joe Bloggs in the sticks, where I am from or where someone else is from, to issue it and be responsible. No one is condoning anyone who is not responsible. I will say one thing. At the end of the day it is the farmer who doses his cattle. The farmer gives the injection to his cattle. Farmers do not go around willy-nilly deciding every week to throw this or that into their livestock. Every farmer knows to change the dosing as he goes along. I have no wish to see us going down a road where there are vets coming in day in and out to farmyards. I appeal to the Department to re-examine this matter in its entirety. Everyone should pull back from where they are. Everyone should sit down with the people who are acting responsibly and who are involved to bring out a solution. This can be done in a week or two.