Mr. Peadar Ó Scanaill:

In fairness, the Department is aware of what we are doing at all times as it receives an annual report. The executive meets staff at the Department four or five times a year. Ms Muldoon, the registrar, will answer this question. Only yesterday, we met the Secretary General. We meet at various times. The Department was aware we were chewing on this because we asked it about it. We were not running around looking for legislative change because it is not something that can be obtained terribly easily or very quickly. We knew what was in the Act and what was very clear in the Act. The Senator is right that it would have been far better had we done the review before December 2017, and I have said this a few times. This was why in 2018 we asked for it to stop. This is all about operating rather than ownership, as Deputy Cahill said. Our difficulty is that the owner is not in the Act. It is the operator, the person providing the service, who is in the Act. The Act is quite clear this is a vet and must always be a vet. This is what we are working on and it is in the code of conduct.

Mention was made of education and going abroad.