Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and am pleased to speak on Second Stage of this Bill. I commend the Minister and his staff on their work on drafting the Bill. As the Minister outlined, the Bill amends the principal Act of 2005. It will make provision for the mutual recognition of qualifications and a register of individuals, and persons other than veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses will be permitted to conduct procedures. It will allow for additional powers to be exercised by the Minister and his Department.

It is very positive that the Department has responded swiftly and adequately to concerns raised by the veterinary profession. This Bill encompasses the changes required to make the veterinary profession function better.

As a farmer, I have much experience with local veterinarians and those employed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. They provide a very necessary service to farmers and owners of companion pets in the home. It would be remiss of us not to acknowledge the important contribution that veterinarians make to society. As was stated, many Irish students study veterinary practice abroad, including in the United Kingdom and Hungary. Compliance with the EU free-movement regulation is important in this regard.

According to the Veterinary Council of Ireland, on 13 February this year there were 2,343 veterinary practitioners registered in Ireland and 381 registered veterinary nurses. It is interesting to note that the Veterinary Practice Act 2005 overhauled the regulation of the profession in certain areas, including in regard to the composition of the regulatory body, the Veterinary Council of Ireland. It established mandatory continuous professional development and introduced premises-accreditation schemes. The principal Act entered into force on 1 January 2006.

Let me touch briefly on some of the principal proposals of the Bill. Its main purpose is to clarify fully the legal position established in the Veterinary Practice Act 2005 to enable the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to exclude specific activities from being reserved to veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses. The enactment of the Bill into law will not incur any extra departmental expense.

Section 2 provides for the introduction of three new sections to the principal Act and it will allow for ministerial regulation-making powers to exclude specific activities from being reserved to veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses. Provision is being made, under section 54A, for the Minister to make special exclusion subject to appropriate conditions and to consult in advance the Veterinary Council of Ireland.

Section 54B ensures that the principles and policies governing the exercise of the Minister's regulation-making powers under section 54C contain a standard offence clause for failure to comply with the regulations.

Section 3 inserts a new provision to enable the Veterinary Council of Ireland, with the consent of the Minister, by regulation, to make indemnity insurance mandatory for specific types of veterinary practices. This will modernise the law for veterinary practitioners in line with their counterparts in other professions.

Section 4 is to modernise aspects of the disciplinary provision for veterinarians and bring them into line with recent legislation, including the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and the Pharmacy Act 2007. This will give the governing body a greater menu of options to deal with disciplinary case actions, including the actions to strike off, suspend or impose conditions.

As the Minister outlined, section 5 will restructure the veterinary nurses regulation.

Section 6 will give the Veterinary Council the ability to recognise third country veterinary nurses. This will ultimately allow for suitably qualified, experienced veterinary nurses from non-EU jurisdictions to work in Ireland subject to certain conditions, including a strict language requirement.

Section 7 will empower the Veterinary Council to mobilise authorised officers to enter premises, where necessary, for the purpose of an investigation. This will not require a warrant, nor will it interfere in a homeowner's right to protection within his or her own dwelling. The Minister has already referred to that important point.

As previously mentioned, Irish students are pursuing veterinary practice, education and training in other EU countries and further afield. This Bill will ensure the complete mutual recognition of foreign qualifications for admittance to the veterinary register in Ireland. It will give students and existing veterinary practitioners legal certainty concerning the standing of their qualifications in Ireland. This is a practical addition to the Bill.

Section 9 extends the definition of "professional misconduct" in the current Act to align it with the equivalent provision under the Pharmacy Act 2007. This section also amends a procedural requirement in the case of a lesser sanction of advice, warning or censure which may be applied by the council. Under this amendment the council would not be required to get High Court approval in cases where a person complained against chooses not to appeal against a proposed decision of the council to advise, warn or censure him or her.

I wish to thank the Minister for taking the time to address the House today on the passage of this Bill. I look forward to the Bill being enacted at an early date. I firmly believe the proposed legislation will strengthen and enhance the veterinary profession in Ireland.