Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. I will run through a few points. I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, and the membership for making the time available today to step this Bill forward on Committee Stage. It is important legislation and will help future-proof large parts of the industry and ensure we have robust measures in place that will benefit both farmers and businesses for the years to come.

The Bill seeks to modernise the area of veterinary medicines and medicated feed. As Deputies will be aware, at EU level last year we saw the implementation of two new regulations in this area. The Bill reinforces those regulations in Irish legislation. It shows our commitment to the key objectives of the regulations, that is, addressing antimicrobial and antiparasitic resistance and protecting the supply of veterinary medicines and medicated feeds while supporting Irish farmers and businesses through what is a unique period of change. I am worried about the growing antimicrobial and parasitic resistance at farm level and I know that all of us are worried about it. It is also something farmers, vets, politicians and everyone else in the sector need to be very conscious of.

I am conscious of the views members expressed during the Second Stage debate on the Bill and the views expressed by stakeholders throughout the lengthy consultations on the Bill. One of the main areas of focus on the part of members during the Second Stage reading was on providing for an appropriate mechanism for the prescribing of certain veterinary medicinal products to ensure maximum availability of outlets for farmers through the existing retailers of veterinary medicinal products in the face of what is a change in route of supply of antiparasitic veterinary medicinal products and to ensure there is competition. This is a complex matter, and I have given it a huge amount of consideration and may return to it on Report Stage.

I have had two ultimate aims from the very start of this process: first, to reduce the growing and worrying level of antiparasitic resistance on farms and, second, to ensure that farmers in all parts of the country continue to have access to these crucial medicines and that there is strong competition in the marketplace. I continue to work hard to achieve that ambition and am determined that we will deliver on it.

As for the veterinary medicines and medicated feed part of the Bill, I am bringing forward amendments which seek to bring additional clarity to certain sections of the Bill as well as some amendments which are technical in nature.

The second area the Bill deals with is the introduction of regulations in respect of the establishment of a fertiliser register.

Part 3 of the Bill contains eight sections. The proposed legislation will amend the Fertilisers, Feeding Stuffs and Mineral Mixtures Act 1955. It will also establish a national fertiliser database, which will provide for accurate tracking of fertiliser sales along the supply chain.

With regard to the matters raised during the Second Stage debate on the fertiliser aspect of the Bill, I will make the following points. The issue of North-South trade was raised by many Deputies. Trade in fertilisers will continue between the North and the South, and farmers are free to purchase fertiliser from outside the State, as they have done heretofore. The only additional requirement will be that such transactions are imports and that farmers buying from the North, for example, will have to register as fertiliser economic operators and submit information on those imports to the national fertiliser database. The Department will conduct risk-based controls to verify compliance with the regulatory requirements set down-----