Ms Niamh Muldoon:

I will open the response and then ask the president of the Veterinary Council to assist with further comments. Regarding reference to the impact on rural businesses, the Veterinary Council, in considering some of the definitions of the terms contained in the veterinary medicines regulations, has engaged very broadly with many stakeholders to the antiparasitic stakeholder group. We have met licensed merchants and their representatives. We have met the co-operatives, farming bodies, veterinary representatives, Teagasc, Animal Health Ireland and agricultural consultants. We are very much aware there are differing approaches to these regulations from various stakeholders. We accept there may be some impact on business, but ultimately these regulations require veterinary prescriptions for certain products.

The route of supply of all of these medicines will remain unchanged. While, for example, antiparasitic medicines will now require a veterinary prescription, the same option in terms of choice of supplier will remain to any individual farmer or animal owner. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is looking at the introduction of an electronic prescribing system in an effort to ease access to the range of suppliers for these medicines so that if and when farmers or individual animal owners obtain a prescription, they have freedom of choice regarding where they will source or obtain the medicine product.

The Deputy queried whether the Veterinary Council can comment on whether qualified persons have been supplying excessive quantities of medicines. We can make no comment in this regard. The Health Products Regulatory Authority produced a task force report in December 2019 which recommended that some of these products have veterinary prescription requirements. As the regulator and independent statutory body regulating vets, veterinary nurses and veterinary premises, we cannot make a comment on matters in the past. Our role, in the public interest, is to offer some of these definitions in supporting the introduction and implementation of these regulations.