Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the other Members of the House for some of their comments about the work required to bring forward this Bill and the work of the agricultural committee. There are three other members of the committee here and I enjoy working with them. We have done a lot in that committee in the past 12 months.

I will address a few points. The Minister and the Minister of State made the point that the Companies Registration Office has identified a significant number of veterinary practices that are now incorporated. That is correct, but the vast majority of them are owned by veterinary practitioners. Those practices become limited companies for various business reasons. While a number of practices in this country have been bought by laypersons and corporate interests, the number still is not huge. We can close this door. As Deputy Carthy stated, the horse has not bolted yet. We can still close the stable door before it is too late.

These companies have come in and are picking rich companies. They started with equine practices and moved to small-animal practices. They will move on to large animal practices in strong agricultural areas. That model has not worked in any other country so how can we expect it to be any different here? It is a more immediate concern in urban areas. People who take their pet for a service in a local veterinary clinic will find that the prices area an awful lot higher. I have been talking to a large number of vets in my research for this legislation. There have been instances where a corporate buyer has taken over a small animal specialist clinic and services have become restricted while the costs have gone up significantly and quickly to exorbitant levels. One of the pet projects of those corporate buyers is to sell pet insurance. As soon as a corporate buyer takes over a small animal practice, the main job in the practice is to sell pet insurance. The latter makes the profit margins a great deal more attractive.

The principal issue and concern I see with this is the Veterinary Council of Ireland. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, will be aware that the Veterinary Council appeared before the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine on two occasions in 2019. It gave reasons for changing the interpretation of the legislation that was in place and change it did. For a number of years, the Acts interpreted that only veterinary practitioners could own a veterinary practice. That existed for virtually ten years after the legislation was passed. It changed that legislation and changed its interpretation of that legislation. After then allowing a number of high-profile practices to be bought, the Veterinary Council set about a consultation process with stakeholders within the industry. This was definitely a case of putting the cart before the horse. Then, after that consultation, it decided that the changed interpretation was correct. I fundamentally disagreed with that, as did the vast majority of committee members.

By allowing laypeople to own veterinary practices, the regulation of those practices will be beyond the powers of the Veterinary Council. That is the nub of the issue. If one is going to regulate, one will need professionals in charge of those practices. The only way a professional can be in charge of the practice is if he or she is the owner. A case was highlighted recently where a practice owned by a layperson was left without a vet for a month to six weeks. It had no vet on hand but a large quantity of drugs were owned by the practice. The Veterinary Council had no ability to regulate that or control those drugs.

We are seeing huge controversy with another aspect of the agricultural industry at the moment with regard to the doping of racehorses. Our committee will have hearings on that issue in the next two weeks. The Veterinary Council's principal job is to regulate the industry and ensure that food safety and animal welfare are sacrosanct. Allowing laypeople to own these practices diminishes its ability to do that. It takes away the Veterinary Council's ability to do it because it regulates veterinarians, not laypeople.

That is the fundamental point of why this legislation must be passed. Yes, we have costs, whether they are to farmers or pet owners. We have the availability of services in rural areas. We have all those questions. If corporates take control, they will just look at the bottom line. They will not look at the quality or costs of service.

While those are important reasons, the fundamental reason is regulation. Our reputation as food producers is paramount and our veterinarians are an integral part of that. The Veterinary Council being able to regulate veterinary practices to keep the ownership in veterinarians' hands is absolutely essential. That, therefore, is why I appeal to the Minister and the committee to proceed with this legislation as quickly as we possibly can. It is essential, for all the reasons that have been laid out tonight, that this amendment is put on the Statute Book. It is essential for one reason above all else, which is to preserve our reputation. As the Minister and Minister of State said, our reputation on the world stage is very good. To give the Veterinary Council of Ireland the proper authority to maintain that reputation, it is essential that veterinary practices are owned by veterinary practitioners.

I very much thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to bring this Bill forward to Second Stage. It is an essential piece of legislation, which will ensure our practices and the reputation of our industry are maintained. As has been clearly said, our veterinarians deliver a great service to us. They have an extremely high reputation on the world stage. We have an extremely high reputation for producing top quality-food. Our veterinarians give it a stamp that is recognised worldwide. Let us ensure that we keep that reputation intact.

The amendment to this legislation, namely, the Veterinary Practice Act 2005 and Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Act 2012, will ensure that is the case. Hopefully, we can get this Bill through Committee Stage quickly and back onto the floor of the Dáil to get this amendment put into the legislation, which will be of benefit to consumers, the industry and veterinarians alike.

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