Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before Senator Paul Daly came in, I wanted to talk about the potential of putting in place a legislative framework that would have what he described well as decoupling. For ordinary people, what we are talking about in that instance is exactly what happens for human medicine whereby a GP prescribes and a person purchases in a chemist. That system is in place for very good reason, which is to ensure that the person who is prescribing is not incentivised to over-prescribe where there would be a profit motive behind that.

I was peripherally involved with some of the discussions at an EU level. My recall of that is different from Mr. Corkery's, which I will not dispute. My recollection is not that the European institution said this cannot happen, but that it will not happen at an EU-wide level. My understanding was that the discretion was left very much at a member state level. However, I do recall that in stark contrast to my experience regarding whether a derogation is in place, the Irish Government was very active on that particular point in opposition to any suggestion that there would be an EU-wide decoupling of the prescribing and selling of animal medications. I had sympathy with the arguments that said it could make veterinarians unviable in some peripheral rural areas, and that there may be instances where emergency prescribing and dispensing would be required within a short timeframe. However, the first argument is lost with the enthusiasm with which we are moving forward on a piece of proposed legislation that could potentially make many other very important businesses for rural communities unviable, particularly our licensed merchants and our co-operative sector.

The Minister of State prefaced quite a number of his remarks on the basis that he is still considering the legal opinion and new legal advice he has received. When we go into the depth of the responses we have been receiving, however, I do not get a sense of an open mind. I get a sense that the Minister of State is plámásing us by saying that the Department received further legal advice and that he and his officials are looking into it. However, every single substantive response we have received to any of the questions that have been put very clearly point to the view that minds have been made up in the Department, and we are proceeding along this basis.

I will make this final point. Mr. Corkery mentioned state aid, which, unfortunately, is one of these things at EU level where what suits the goose does not always suit the gander. Once the EU puts in place a measure, it cannot breach state aid rules. My view of this proposed legislation is that it is in breach, at the very minimum, of the principles of the Competition Act. There are, if you like, four sectors through which this type of medication is dispensed and prescribed, depending on what term we are going to use. In the aftermath of this proposed legislation, there will basically be one.

The advice we have received and the testimonies we have received through written submissions do not just come from those sectors that gave evidence but from what I can see, also from virtually every farm organisation. The people at the front line who represent farmers are telling us that if this happens on the basis the Department has indicated, it will make providing medication to animals more expensive for their members. This is at a time when margins are already tight.

I have two questions in that regard. Will the Minister of State examine the full outworkings of decoupling and look at decoupling as an option? As I said, it is not something for which I would have advocated but we are coming into extreme circumstances, and it is only through this that we will be able to save many local businesses that will otherwise be under threat.

Can the Minister of State give us a timeframe for the examination of that new legal advice, as he has indicated? I do not believe we can close the pre-legislative scrutiny process relating to this proposed legislation until we have received an assessment of the Department's adjudication on that.