Results 5,301-5,320 of 11,348 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: I thank the Minister of State and his officials for attending. I have not been a Member of this House for very long but I imagine this is a fairly unique scenario in that a Minister of State is saying to a committee that it should proceed with pre-legislative scrutiny of a Bill whose precise outcome we do not know. As both members who spoke before me indicated, one very pertinent point has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: I respectfully disagree it is a moot point. Rather, I think it is a central point in how we have come to-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: -----where we are. One of two things has happened. I might outline a scenario for the Minister of State. A derogation was provided for in the regulations and that derogation, we are now told, is null and void because it was not implemented properly, if it is the case responsible persons were not prescribing. In my view, however, they were, and I think anybody who has knowledge of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: Before the officials come in on this, this is a political charge but it is against the Department in terms of the structure because the criteria changed because we allowed it to change. Therein lies the problem. Nobody seemed to see it or, if they did, they kept it to themselves. I would like to know which it is. I do not know if I will ever be able to find the answer to that. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: Yes. I refer to the regulations that are currently being applied.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: Okay, forget the comparison between the two. In respect of the products to which the regulations apply and that previously did not, within three of the four sectors that dispensed them we are told that sales have reduced by between 60% and 90%. Do we have information as to whether the overall sales have reduced to anything close to that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: There are two linear arguments there. One is that the information for a full year is not available because the full year has not passed. The second point is that even if it did, we would not have it. Which is it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will come to that in a moment. Dr. Corkery talked about the assessment of risk of AMR in respect of prescribing. Let us forget about the legalities for a moment but address the practice. Does he believe that responsible persons, as have been identified in the licensed merchants sector, for example, have the capacity to assess-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: I am saying this as somebody who has supported the committee's position throughout, which is that RPs should be able to fall into the parameters of what we consider to be the derogation. If someone in the Department said that it does not believe the capacity is there, I would be interested.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: The Minister of State opened the issue of legalities again. Does he accept that we currently fall outside EU law?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: We still have not got there, by the Minister of State's own admission. The Department's view is that this legislation will be completed by 1 December. Is that still the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: The NVPS was referred to. Going back to discussions with stakeholders, it appears that plans for that system are in complete disarray. Is that a fair statement?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will ask a question then conclude, because I know others want to come in. When will the NVPS be fully operational?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: Does Mr. Collins believe the system will be workable on 1 December on that basis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: That is the exact opposite of what this committee heard last week from witnesses whom we consider to be important stakeholders in rolling this out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: On that point, the difficulty is not the duration but the quantity. As has been said, a vet is obliged to provide a prescription that will last 12 months but he or she can only prescribe a quantity suitable for just one month. Is that a fair comment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: That will be at the discretion of the vet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: Before Senator Paul Daly came in, I wanted to talk about the potential of putting in place a legislative framework that would have what he described well as decoupling. For ordinary people, what we are talking about in that instance is exactly what happens for human medicine whereby a GP prescribes and a person purchases in a chemist. That system is in place for very good reason, which is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: I absolutely support the principle of this part of the legislation. It could be a very valuable tool in terms of putting measures in place at a later stage that would incentivise individual farms to reduce emissions. The difficulty I have with it is a fairly obvious one. What procedures are envisaged for a farmer from, for example, my county, who happens to go to a merchant? It may be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is simpler not to do it if we are talking about simplicity and the reality of these things.