Mr. Brian McHugh:

I would certainly agree with a couple of things. As part of the opening statement, I set out that competition restrictions can be allowed where they are necessary and where they are proportionate. I think it would be very important to set out what the problems are here, which the Deputy has done for a few areas, and then what the potential solutions are and whether they are necessary or proportionate. As I mentioned, we do not have these arrangements where such corporate ownership is banned for GPs or pharmacies in Ireland. It is not, therefore, deemed necessary or proportionate in those areas.

I will not get into a detailed discussion on the points of law. I am not a lawyer. What I would say is that there are real risks in terms of this legislation. There are a number of cases where similar restrictions have been found to be in breach of European law. I would suggest that it would be very important that this legislation is subject to legal scrutiny to understand what the risks are in terms of that law.

In addition, there may well be constitutional issues in terms of the impact this has on corporates that are currently in place in Ireland, which is very difficult to predict. As I understand, it would mean some owners of businesses would be criminalised and would need to take actions to divest themselves of that business, which may be a very complicated and painful process for what may be relatively small or even family-run veterinary practices. Legal issues would, therefore, have to be very carefully considered.

In terms of the issues identified by the Deputy, similar issues will come up in terms of GPs and pharmacies, corporates and the individuals responsible for medicines. Those should be very carefully considered, therefore, but I think the right way to do that is through the regulator, as has been done in other sectors.