Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 208: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she is taking to provide a countrywide and weekend veterinary service for the issue of prescriptions for animal remedies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32761/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that veterinary practices are primarily commercial entities and their locations are driven by commercial realities. However, insofar as State involvement is concerned, I can point to a number of recent measures which will alleviate difficulties which may arise in certain parts of the country. Under the new Veterinary Practice Act 2005, effective from 1 January 2006, there is a provision which for the first time enables the Veterinary Council to recognise qualifications from applicants in Third Countries generally. This, taken with the enlargement of the EU, will make for improved availability of practitioners to meet shortfalls that may arise on the supply side. Furthermore, the Animal Remedies Regulations 2005, which I signed into law on 17 November 2005, contain a number of measures which facilitate veterinary practitioners and their farmer clients to avoid difficulties in this area. These include changes to the prescribing rules in terms of the ending of the requirement to clinically examine an animal prior to writing a prescription and the extended validity period of prescriptions. The Regulations also include a provision, which in a genuine emergency situation and subject to appropriate safeguards, allows a pharmacist to supply a prescription medicine in advance of receiving a written prescription. Finally, I understand that Udarás na Gaeltachta provides funding to subsidise veterinary practices in remote areas in consultation with the local farming community.