Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I note Dr. Corkery's responses to the questions about e-prescriptions and all that comes from that and his earlier response regarding decoupling. Many people who are not farmers would find one element of this difficult to envisage. If a vet advises a farmer he needs a product and the vet happens to have it in his van and can give it to the farmer, it will be very hard for the farmer to say "No" to that and to ask the vet to upload his prescription, send him a text message and say he will go to the licensed merchant for it. The defence of the coupled system is the example of the very peripheral area where there is only one vet. An island was referenced in an earlier response. We are dealing with thousands of items of regulation and legislation that have been enacted despite the impact they have on those same communities. Do the officials accept we must do something? If we were to compare the situation to a man who attends his doctor who offers to prescribe his patient with a product and hand it to him, it would be very difficult for the patient to say "No" to that offer and say he would go to the Main Street to get the product in the chemist shop.