Mr. Pat McCormack:

In its current form, this Bill is overly complex and needs to be simplified. If you read through the fine print, you will see there is the potential for a farmer or a farm family to be fined up to €100,000 for a breach of it. That is a huge fine. Obviously, I fully endorse the Senator's comments as regards antimicrobial resistance and the need to move it on. We need to do this in a pragmatic way that will deliver for farm families and deliver opportunity. There needs to be common sense in the legislation. The prescription-only status of antiparasitics is a huge issue. Quite rightly, the licensed merchants were predominantly involved in the co-op movement. We know from discussions we have had with vets in various different parts of the country that they would be quite happy to see that arrangement stay in place, with the co-ops providing merchant credit, as it is termed. It can be an issue for farmers at different times of the year if they put in a bunch a cattle and want to dose them and go through that routine. It may be the date of slaughter before the cash flow would come. Many of the vets' practices are family businesses. They want to try to service their members' needs but at the same time they do not want to be carrying the can for the entire agricultural community within that. As regards what improvements we would like to see, there are significant practical issues relating to the veterinarian being the only one to issue the product. Such issues may arise in the spring if you arrive in the door of a large animal practice with two or three vets, and one of them is gone out doing a herd test and another is doing a Caesarean section. They have responsible persons who have issued those products in the past. We see no reason to change that. We believe that was working well and there is absolutely no reason to change. Geographical issues may arise if a co-op does not source a product going forward because there will be a huge issue with travel. A farmer who lives beside the local co-op could be 30 km, 40 km or 50 km away from their local vet. There are issues as regards location. There are other issues regarding putting the sticker on the label. Very often, the sticker that is put on covers the date or the withdrawal period. This can be a huge issue. I ask my colleague, Mr. Enright, to answer the Senator's question about the Border.