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

I thank the witnesses for participating. Could they elaborate on the prescriber benchmarking and what they mean by that? Would they have a concern if there is a different regime being used north of the Border, which for many farmers is only walking distance across an invisible line? Are they concerned that we should be in line with each other, North and South, to achieve the best outcomes for our farmers and the industry? I note the mention of Denmark and Netherlands in the submission. The witnesses talked about veterinary practitioners and one has to look at the smaller farmer as against the bigger farmer. The witnesses are not bothered about cost but do they think there is a danger that it will cost smaller farmers an awful lot more because the bigger guys will be getting more stuff? If this goes down the road that it seems to be going down, would the witnesses recommend that it would be better to have a separation, as Deputy Carthy pointed out earlier, such as in the example of a doctor and a chemist? One could get the prescription in one place and get the medicine in the other. It is hard for a farmer to walk into a veterinary practitioner's office and ask for a prescription and then walk down the road and get it at the local co-operative, for example. What are the witnesses thoughts on that for the benefit of the whole industry?