Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion

Mr. Pat Murphy:

It will not initially be a real-time system. I think that is accepted. It is understandable that it will not be real time, because the IT systems that have to be put in place by merchants over the next months to comply are quite complex. There will be a period, which may be indefinite, where there is not a real-time system. Over time, one would like to see movement towards it. It may happen voluntarily as merchants develop their systems to supply real-time data to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. They will have the option to do so daily if they want to. Most of the larger suppliers may do so voluntarily. We have to try to make sure as broadly as possible. The other side would be that merchants must be given time to align their systems to allow that to happen.