Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. I very much appreciate Senator Lombard taking the Chair and facilitating this opportunity to bring the veterinary practice (amendment) Bill 2021 before the joint committee. I also acknowledge all the help I got in getting to this stage, especially from the members of Veterinary Ireland, who I have met on a number of occasions in recent years.

The reason I brought forward this amendment to legislation is because of growing concern among the public and veterinarians about the impact of corporate ownership on veterinary practices going forward. Over the last number of years, corporations have started to buy veterinary practices in this country. Prior to 2016, the Veterinary Council’s view was that the ownership of a veterinary practice had to be by a vet. They then changed their interpretation of the legislation and allowed corporates to buy veterinary practices. After some objections were raised, they decided they would have a consultation process with stakeholders to re-examine the interpretation of the legislation. They also made appearances in front of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the last Dáil.

There was serious unease as to whether their interpretation was correct and also regarding the impact this would have on veterinary practices and customers. When they were in front of the committee in the last Dáil, Senator Lombard and Senator Paul Daly were members of the committee, as was the then Deputy, Willie Penrose. With Mr. Penrose’s legalistic mind, he was very strenuous in his questioning of the Veterinary Council. After a number of meetings with Veterinary Ireland, it was decided that an amendment to the legislation was needed.

In other jurisdictions where corporate ownership has become the norm, the level of service to urban and rural customers has decreased, while costs have increased. In Derry recently, the first practice in Northern Ireland went into corporate ownership and we have seen that the first casualty was the 24-hour service that was heretofore available to farmers.

Over a long number of years, vets have provided a renowned and exemplary service in rural Ireland. Urban dwellers have also had a very good service available at a reasonable cost. We have seen in other jurisdictions, particularly the UK, that corporate ownership has resulted in a lower level of service and a higher cost to the customer, with an impact on animal welfare. When it becomes uneconomical to bring out a vet on a late-night call, obviously, animal welfare considerations will come into play.

In recent days, and it is ironic that it coincides with this meeting of the committee, we have seen a number of articles regarding the difficulty in attracting vets into large animal practices. Corporate ownership will make this more difficult as young vets will not be able to see a realistic path of career progression, which is a major issue. Indeed, this is proving to be the deciding factor among many vets choosing not to enter private practice, which is having a significant impact on the availability of vets for large and small animal practices.

The purpose of this amendment to the legislation is to insist that the Veterinary Council implement, as they did heretofore, that only vets can own a veterinary practice. This is the only means through which the Veterinary Council can regulate the practice of veterinary medicine in the interests of public health and animal health and welfare. That is the most important point I can make to the committee today. If the Veterinary Council is to regulate, this amendment is the only thing that can allow that to happen. This is extremely important on public health grounds and for animal health and welfare. I am fully convinced this will be of significant benefit and attractiveness to veterinary practitioners and will ensure the delivery of a good service to their customers at a reasonable price. It will also ensure public health and animal health and welfare are kept under strict regulation by the Veterinary Council.

That is why I am bringing forward this amendment today. I know my colleagues in Veterinary Ireland want to make a number of minor amendments to the wording of the Bill. With the permission of the Vice Chairman, I will ask Mr. Murphy to go through those wording changes.