Mr. Eddie Punch:

We have concerns about the database in terms of veterinary medicines. The general scheme lists a range of different bodies that may have access to it, including Bord Bia. Not every farmer is a member of a quality assurance scheme. The Data Protection Commissioner should be asked for a view about whether it is appropriate that there can be such access to this database. We are creating a fertiliser register as well. Equally, we must be careful that care is taken and that there is no access to this information for anybody who should not have it.

Under Part 3 of the general scheme, which concerns enforcement, quite draconian powers are given to Department officials to enter premises and so on. We have a major concern about that because the sad fact is that there have been horror stories in the past with family homes being entered. We must be very careful that enforcement is proportionate to the risk.

The key point is that we want competition. The Department has been trying to say that veterinary practices can issue prescriptions and other outlets can supply or dispense but we still do not have a real working model regarding how that would work in practice. That is the issue. Reference is made to the human medicines scenario. I do not think it is exactly comparable. Ivermectin is a key example. Because there is such competition, that product has become relatively inexpensive. We know that many years ago, Irish farmers were paying a multiple of what farmers in other jurisdictions were paying for this. Competition has been key in bringing the prices down. However, there is not just competition between the retail outlets, vets, licensed merchants and co-operatives. There is competition between suppliers of the product. We would be concerned that this could be decimated. If you go to a veterinary practice, a cheap ivermectin from one company is available. If you go to a co-operative, a couple of other companies are supplying another type of ivermectin product, so we have competition not just between the retailers but also between the suppliers.

If we disrupt that model, we potentially take a lot of those other suppliers out of the market because the veterinary practice only deals with one particular pharma company. That is a key issue.