Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. This is a very important Bill, which, while technical in nature, boils down to two things, as the Minister rightly said. It is down to the veterinary medicines and medicated animal feedstuffs, which are clearly very important, and it is down to fertilisers. What are we down to? We are down to animal health, public health, the health of our soils and the environmental initiatives.

There has been cross-governmental collaboration on this legislation. I welcome that. There was a requirement in the context of what happened in Europe, and we have to follow on in that regard. I genuinely welcome that. I do not wish to go into too much detail about the practices involved, other than to say that farmers know the benefits of good environmental practices and animal health and welfare. Their livelihoods, as we all know, are intrinsically linked to the health of the soil and the animals and sustainable farming, and, ultimately, the sustainability of their communities and incomes. That sounds like a bit of a mouthful but it is important that we keep stressing the importance of the health of our animals and our soil and how environmental initiatives are compatible with sustainable and profitable agriculture. That is a difficult message to get over to everyone. We are all on a journey; and we are at different stages of that journey. However, it is becoming more acceptable, reasonable and politically favourable to advocate strongly for the importance of the health of our soil and animals.

I have long argued that there is a need to look at appointing veterinary technicians. We need to look at this matter. It is slightly related to this legislation. I do not believe that highly paid veterinary surgeons are needed to go out to administer everything when it comes to veterinary products. They have the final say and recommendation, but the reality is that many among a generation of people in farming will know what it was to give a bullock a bottle or a dose, as the expression was, and hope for something good to happen.I am not talking about putting the welfare of animals at risk. I am calling on the Minister to look at how we can improve the issue of farm veterinary technicians, particularly for large practices. All over the country, I meet with farmers who say they cannot get vets, even in large practices. Vets are telling me that themselves. I met a lot of them in the west a few weeks ago, where we discussed the difficulty of getting people into big veterinary practices.

Much of the legislation hinges on the development of a database. The national fertiliser database will help us to meet the commitments Ireland has agreed to in the negotiations with the European Commission. I accept that. All EU member states that are availing of the nitrates derogation have set out, or are in the process of setting out, their national fertiliser database. There are issues around the IT systems relating to that and to the capability of that. Who is the data holder? I spoke to a number of people from the co-ops. Remember, some of the co-ops are involved in the nomination of candidates to the Seanad. They are keenly watching this Bill. There is an issue about who the database holder is. This is nothing that cannot be overcome. However, when this legislation is eventually enacted, we will need a simpleton’s guide or a question-and-answer sheet that sets out all those issues. Who are the end users?

Horticulture is also involved in this. Golf clubs are consumers of large amounts of fertiliser. There may be many situations of leaching into our waterways. There is the horticultural aspect, the landscape aspect and the market garden aspect. There is a whole range of things. I am in favour of a national fertiliser database. Hopefully, it will provide reliable data on fertiliser and where it is going accumulatively. It is important the end user, such as the farmer, the grower, the amenity horticulturist, or whoever it is, clearly knows where it is going and the amounts they are using.

I mention the labelling of veterinary medical products and the veterinarian or the person who receives a veterinary medical product. This refers to the labelling affixed to the packaging or the prescription. It includes supply information, prescription identification information, details of the prescribed veterinarian, the date of retail, the dosage and the duration of the treatment. All of this will be set out in the legislation, as will the period of time, the licensing issues, etc. Again, this is about animal welfare and animal health. It makes sense that we address that.

I refer to the issues around the national database. We spoke about how various bodies will have access to this database, such as the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in performing its regulatory functions. The Health Products Regulatory Authority, the Veterinary Council of Ireland, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, Bord Bia, the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors will also have access to it. A huge number of people will also have access to this information. I do not have a problem with that because if one is above board, is doing what is legal and is in compliance with the rules and the regulations, it makes sense. It also makes sense in terms of the funding and the various eco-schemes, such as for fertiliser.

If people are to be incentivised, it is important that we will have traceability. Traceability is key in agriculture, as it is in food. The Minister might confirm that organics will have to register. It is right that they do. Some people suggested that the organic sector will not have to register, but organics have to register under the proposed legislation. Why would they not have to? The excessive use of lime has an impact on land. It has an impact on our ecosystems and our biodiversity too. I do not think is a bad thing.

The non-farmer professional fertiliser end users are to be assigned a unique identity tag. There is a lot of work involved. Where I envisage potential problems here are around the IT sector and the administration of the system. The Minister might advise how that is progressing because this was to be done earlier in the year. Things have run on a bit, but how are we engaging with that? What is the feedback now from the co-ops and the agri-merchants? They were initially quite hostile to all of this. They have come a long way. As a previous Senator said, we have ironed out some issues and there has been better understanding and better dialogue around the issues concerned. The data is important. That is the real thing.

Going back to what I said, this is about food, healthy soils, regulation and compliance with EU regulations and the requirements we have been asked to step up to. It has been a long time coming, but it is right. I will finish where I started by saying that farmers do not need to be lectured to about good environmental practices and animal welfare. Their livelihoods are intrinsically linked to the health of our good soils, to animals and to sustainability.It is important that we work with them and acknowledge the enormous progress that has been made by this sector with respect to the environment. I support this legislation. I am keen to hear a little more about the administration of the IT systems and how they are progressing. As I stated earlier, there is a real case now to look at a proper certified qualification for a veterinary technician. There will be a learning curve with all this legislation. Through the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, the green cert or any eco-agri scheme, we have to build a model for the people involved in these sectors to be able to understand the science and the importance of compliance. I wish the Minister well with it.