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

I want to talk about the antiparasitic dosing stuff, to put it simply, and the farmer who gets it in a place other than a veterinary practice. I note Veterinary Ireland, VI, has stated that obtaining a prescription and the red tape is basically nothing, and that it will cost us nothing. Are the witnesses saying VI will give out prescriptions for free?

The witnesses talk about the vets around the country. We are lucky with the number of vets in our area and they are good, which is something I have always said. They have spoken about the viability of vets and it is very important to keep them in one's area - I would be the first person to say that - but is it at a cost of losing someone in the co-operative or someone who is administering it? Would it not be a better ploy if the vets came out in support of the fact that we need a licensed person who has gone through courses in order that they can give out the dosing stuff? I am not talking about injections for mastitis or whatever; I am talking about antiparasitic medicines.

The farmers in Northern Ireland are trusted to give antiparasitic medicine to their cattle. There is the equivalent of a responsible person or a chemist. Going by what VI has said, is the thinking that the farmer here is not as sharp as the farmer in Northern Ireland? Is it not better that we, Veterinary Ireland and qualified persons, work on this together? There is plenty of work for them all. To be frank, I do not want to see anyone losing out on this. To be blunt, if vets have a hold on prescriptions, they will have a hold on the whole thing and it will be anticompetitive. As politicians, we will then have to go down a road to fight for a situation like the doctors have by putting a separate gap between it. I will say one thing about the doctors. There might be one farmer going to the doctor but there might be 50 cattle, so there is a better chance the vet would get more out of that person than the doctor regardless of the figures the witnesses referred to.