Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise in advance, but I have a meeting clash. I thank the representatives of the HPRA for being here this evening.

Could our guests outline the interactions that have taken place between their organisation and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in respect of the implementation of the directive? Does the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, have a position on whether the current duties performed by those in the licensed merchants sector amount to prescribing? That would be important for the committee to know.

Could the HPRA give its position on how e-prescriptions work in practice whereby farmers and those in the licensed merchant sector only get prescriptions five days after a vet would have offered them on the farm? Is it the case that by allowing that wait period of, potentially, up to five days before they can access medicines from a licensed merchant, then animal welfare could be at risk, that is, if farmers do not immediately source the product from a vet. Is it equally the case that e-prescriptions are essentially worthless if animals have been dosed five days prior?