Ms Niamh Muldoon:

I will do so. My name is Niamh Muldoon and I am registrar of the Veterinary Council of Ireland. I am joined this evening by Mr. Joe Moffitt, who is the president of the council, and Dr. Ailis Ní Riain, who is the deputy president. I thank the committee for the invitation to appear before it today. We hope to be of assistance to it in its deliberations on the matters at hand.

Senator Paul Daly asked whether antiparasitic resistance will remain regardless of who prescribes the product. Ultimately, the HPRA task force report of December 2019 dealt with much of that issue. The VCI is the independent statutory body charged with regulating the veterinary professions. Therefore, we are not best placed to comment on issues related to the products. Our role in assisting and offering definitions to some of these veterinary medicine regulations is to ensure that when a prescription is given by a veterinary practitioner, it is given based on a strong threshold of knowledge and given for the appropriate use of any individual product.

The council adopts no policy on the decoupling of veterinary medicines. Ultimately, it is a policy matter for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We are the regulatory body so market forces are not a matter on which we can comment. Our role concerns the public interest, the best interests of animal health and welfare and public health.

The Senator raised ownership and referenced our previous appearances before the committee. He queried whether there are enough vets in the country to offer the services required in relation to both antimicrobial products and antiparasitic products. We have 3,015 registrants on our register of veterinary practitioners. We believe there are enough vets in the country to service all the nation's requirements. Vets are woven into the fabric of every community across the country. We do not foresee any of these regulations being a difficulty or posing any threat to services or the treatment and care available for animals.

The Senator's final point related to the five-day validity period for a prescription referenced in the veterinary medicine regulations. That five-day validity period relates only to prescriptions of antimicrobial products and as such would not be relevant for antiparasitic products. I think the concern related to dosing with antiparasitics. That five-day limit, as specified under the veterinary medicine regulations which we know will be imposed on all European countries, relates only to antimicrobial products such as antibiotics and not to antiparasitics.