Mr. Barry Larkin:

It will make licensed merchants totally unviable going forward. They will exit the animal health industry. If the corner shop or the rural Ireland merchant exits the animal health industry, as it was most likely one of their more profitable sectors, they will become unviable and will not be able to support the local farming community. We have heard from various other stakeholders that are going to be appearing before this committee and it seems they are going to make the same argument. If we go back to what the regulation sets out to achieve, the points are not being achieved. In terms of antimicrobial use, the whole idea of the regulation was to reduce use and become more prudent but the same amount of antimicrobials are being used today as were being used before the regulation changed in 2022. The same impact is going to happen for the antiparasitics. If we look at the regulation, it is to increase the supply and maximise the availability of products to farmers. It is a complete no-brainer. The proper assessment protocol is tailor-made to prescribe vaccines onto farm. It improves animal health and reduces the burden on antimicrobials and antiparastics.