Dr. Paul Corkery:

First, a vet can write a prescription in these instances. As long as he or she has an established relationship with the farmer, he or she can write the prescription for the antiparasitics without seeing any of the animals in this particular case. I said in the report that somebody could have more than one vet, and the Senator knows that. One can pick and choose and have as many vets as one wishes.

To return to the point about the cost, sometimes penny wise and pound foolish applies to veterinary medicines and antiparasitic products. The report that came out recently said that antiparasitic resistance is costing us €237 million. It could be costing us that, and that is the assessment in this paper. That is because the product is not working properly. I have first-hand experience. I did my PhD on sheep, incidentally, even though I grew up in cattle country. Dairy is all around me, although I keep a few sheep for my sins. When the product does not work and one is looking at a dirty backside for a long time, it is difficult to deal with. I believe that money spent on ensuring we have the right product and the optimal use of a product is better, as well as shared knowledge. That is where I believe there will be a great economic benefit in what is happening. One can look at Africa. There are parts of it where one cannot actually raise cattle because the parasites have taken over. The people have given up raising cattle. Fortunately, this country is not there yet, but with these extended mild autumns there is a massive burden of parasites on pasture and we must ensure that we have a kill. We also have to make sure that we have new product.

What we are trying to do - it is nobody's fault, as I said earlier, as it is evolution of these parasites - is to try to use these products better so we can extend their shelf life until we have new research and new products. Mankind will have new products.