Mr. Conor Geraghty:

In the past, if I, as a farmer, wanted to buy a can of dosing, a bottle of Ivomec or whatever, I could. I would choose it and pick it up or I could buy it online. Essentially the farmer was prescribing because there was no prescribing. The farmer picked his or her choice of product and it was dispensed. They were told how to handle it safely and what the withdrawal periods were by the RP. What is now proposed is that farmers will no longer choose. They will have a discussion with their vets about the best product and strategy, how to use the product, the group of animals to use it on, when and under what conditions. Then the vet will write a prescription which is essentially an instruction of what dose to use and when.