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

I thank Deputy Carthy for those supplementary questions. Dr. Corkery outlined earlier the challenges around decoupling, not just in terms of state aid. State aid rules were investigated by my Department, however, and it was found that to restrict the supply of veterinary medicines from one grouping for economic reasons would be considered state aid. A sound evidential basis in veterinary medicine is required to justify any partial or full prohibition on veterinarians doing that.

I will bring the Deputy back to my earlier point about having maximum flexibility for farmers in as much as possible in terms of their livelihoods and the role they play. This situation has already been outlined. A farmer in that space may need a prescription and need the product that same day on a farm that may be in a very isolated area, such as on an island or some equally isolated location. We are tying the hands of that farmer to have the ability to access it if we decouple. That is the very clear position on that issue.

In terms of the Deputy's second point, the timeframe is very clear. It is as soon as possible. I would love to see this being a solution, The Deputy talked about the tone and the references beyond that legal opinion. Let us be clear; the committee has gone through this for two years. We have all looked at this issue. We have all heard from the various stakeholder groups and had them appear before the committee. We have not up until now been able to find a legal regulatory mechanism that will allow us to be able to deal with the issue of the responsible person in Ireland in the proposed legislation.

If the legal opinion had not come in last week, we would still be in that position. I would love this new legal opinion to work. We owe it to everybody involved to analyse it , ensure that we go through it with a fine-tooth comb, turn it inside out and see if we can make it work. That would be to the benefit of the merchants, rural Ireland and everybody involved.

I understand the misgivings and concerns that colleagues have raised, but whatever legislation we bring through, we are duty-bound, on this side of the table, to make sure that it fits the regulatory and legal requirements that we have to meet. We will make that decision as soon as possible. I would love for it to work. Before that came in, we had not found a legal opinion that would work and that we believed would stand up to that scrutiny. That is being straight and honest about it.