Mr. T.J. Flanagan:

We were able to hear.

The Department availed of the exemption that existed in 2007. It did not go down the suitably qualified person, SQP, route. To be fair, it probably suited us for 13 or 14 years. That route, according to the Department, has been withdrawn from us. As Senator Daly suggested, it would be by far the simplest route if the SQP route were available to us now. However, we are conscious the Department has pushed back strongly against this, as has the Commission.

We still think it would be the simplest route, but we have less than 12 months to get this sorted. Our members have big and complex businesses to run. They need time to make changes, so we are considering contingencies which include the option of putting a co-operative vet in place, a consultant vet who could issues prescriptions. We await the legal advice the Department has said it will get from the Attorney General, which will be definitive in this regard.