Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for those points. His views are passionately held. He was saying he was following the committee earlier. He would have seen in my earlier presentation that as recently as last week we received a new legal opinion from stakeholders. We are giving that due consideration to see if there is any way around this. Ultimately, we want to strike the right balance and ensure that while giving farmers the greatest possible choice we also meet the regulatory requirements we are duty bound to meet. It is about trying to get that balance right and seeing how best we can do that. I touched earlier on the points around the 12-month nature of a prescription. In many instances there is a clear gap between when a prescription is written and when the product needs to be bought. It may not always be the same day. We want the maximum regulatory flexibility we can get. That is why are giving due diligence to the latest legal opinion we have received to see if we can have as practical and flexible an approach as possible.