Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 907: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position in relation to the draft regulations designed to transpose EU directive 2004-28-EU into Irish law; in view of the draconian nature of the interpretation by the Department of this directive, her plans to change the regulation in order that qualified persons other than vets are able to prescribe the LM range of animal medicines; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25968/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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There appears to be a misunderstanding at the heart of this question. The position is that the draft regulations circulated by my Department will not, other than in the case of intramammary antibiotic medicines, bring under prescription control at this time any other categories of medicine which are currently not subject to such restriction.

EU Directive 2004-28 provides that all veterinary medicines for food producing animals must be subject to prescriptions. However, it also includes a provision for exemption criteria to be adopted at EU level, which will provide a mechanism for certain categories of veterinary medicines to be exempted from the prescription requirement. The EU has not yet adopted a decision on the exemption criteria but must do so before 1 January 2007. Pending this decision, existing national prescription and distribution arrangements may remain in place.

My Department intends to avail of the exemption clause to the maximum extent possible and has made a submission to the European Commission with a view to retaining "off-prescription" in Ireland all products, other than intrammamaries, which enjoy this status. The draft regulations published by my Department provide that veterinary medicines, such as wormers and certain vaccines, will continue to be available off-prescription until a decision is taken at EU level on the exemption criteria. Therefore, the question of extending the range of prescribers beyond veterinary practitioners is premature.

The EU directive provides that prescriptions may be written by "a professional person qualified to do so in accordance with applicable national law". When the exemption criteria issue is resolved, I will review the regulations and, in particular, the provisions relating to the categories of persons who would be permitted to prescribe veterinary medicines, in light of the outcome, with a view to ensuring competition in the marketplace and to avoid imposing unnecessary costs on farmers. Full consultations will be held with all stakeholders on the matter before final decisions are taken.