Mr. Conor Geraghty:

I will take that question. Critically important antibiotics are a subset of antibiotics. They are not all antibiotics. Through the Irish National Action Plan, INAP, which is the stakeholder group that looks at antimicrobial resistance, we have agreed across industry these highest-priority critically-important antibiotics are used only in second-line treatments and in some cases only after a culture and sensitivity test is carried out. It is our view this is not practical, in that if one has treated an animal and left some of the antibiotics there is a temptation for those antibiotics to be used as first-line treatments. Ultimately, they would have been prescribed for another animal and it leads to a situation which, essentially, cannot be policed. If we really want to reduce the use of these highest-priority critically-important antibiotics - these are three separate categories of antibiotics which are vital for human health so much so that they are the last line of defence in hospitals for treating human patients - they should be taken out of general circulation and only used for severely sick animals where there is no other option. It might be a misunderstanding. We were not suggesting all antibiotics be administered only by a vet who attends the animal in person.