Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The legal advice available to me is that it would not be possible to make provision for a joint application, as suggested by the amendment. However, it will be possible for veterinary practices to make private contractual arrangements among themselves, enabling a single applicant, in effect, to make an application on behalf of a practice. Equally, and things may change as they are evolving from a legislative perspective, the matter of partnership law as it relates to the professions is likely is be reviewed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as part of a review by the company law review group. If it has an implication on the basis of this registration over and above the contractual arrangements that are allowed to proceed, we must amend the legislation. It would be best to await the outcome of that discussion. The advice from the council to its members would be that a private contractual arrangement can be made whereby members are registered in a single practice.