James Breen (Clare, Independent)

The recent publication by the Minister for Agriculture and Food on the draft animal remedies regulations 2005 is both unfair to farmers and to consumers, and will to create a monopoly in the supply and sale of animal medicines.

The Government's proposal will impose restrictions on farmers that will lead to increased costs and they will stifle what competition exists in the sale of animal medicines. By restricting the available outlets for such supplies the price will be controlled by a few vested interests and will be out of the competitive marketplace. Naturally, this will lead to price increases and this will have a detrimental effect on Irish farmers.

It will also cause increases in prices to the consumer and will lead to further inflation. Not only will the direct price of such medicines increase, but so will the indirect costs to farmers. With fewer outlets available to the farmer it will mean further expense in travel to find the product.

Farmers already have enough costs and obstacles put in their way in trying to make a decent living for themselves and their families without having these restrictions proposed by the Minister. Life in rural Ireland is difficult enough for those of us who reside there. Farmers often cannot get planning permission to build houses for their children on their land and that combined with the lack of an adequate public transport system and the Government's pro-Dublin bias all are contributing to a reduction in the quality of life in rural areas.

The proposed legislation will only further the aims of this Government to remove people from rural areas and have the land controlled by a few well-heeled individuals who can gain vast amounts of money through monopolies and cartels. One can look back on the tribunals into such practices in the past and we can look forward to a range of further such tribunals should the proposed Government regulations go ahead, or maybe they have improved in being able to hide their doubtful practices. Because the regulations in Northern Ireland are more farmer friendly there will be an increase in cross-Border smuggling and this will create a black market for such products. This will endanger the economy and the health of animals as in such a situation the use of products will be beyond the control of anyone. This will lead to further corruption in the agriculture sector and will be detrimental to all of us.

We must ensure that medium and small scale Irish farms remain viable businesses and that the people living in rural areas have a decent standard of living. We must ensure we remain competitive as agriculture is one of our biggest industries. If such practices were introduced in other business sectors, there would be uproar. However, the Government shows little regard for people in rural areas and seems to feel it can get away with yet another proposal to promote rural decline. It is time we put a stop to its gallop. It is time we made it aware of the views of people involved in rural businesses rather than leave it listening to its buddies in the business cartels of Dublin.

I have heard much from the Government about bird flu. God help this nation if bird flu hits us because we are currently making a damned bad job of trying to control the MRSA superbug that is rampant in our hospitals. I hope we never have the scourge of bird flu because if it is anything like the MRSA superbug, we will not be able to control it.

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