Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 31: 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. [40490/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware, given veterinary practices are primarily commercial entities, that their locations are driven by commercial realities and as such I do not have a direct involvement in the issue referred to by the Deputy.

However, insofar as official regulation impacts on this area of activity, I can point to a number of measures which will alleviate difficulties which may arise in certain parts of the country. Under the Veterinary Practice Act 2005, effective from 1 January 2006, there is a provision which for the first time enables the Veterinary Council to recognize 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 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, the recent successful outcome to the 'prescription exemption' issue, which results in the retention of off-prescription status for a range of animal medicines, will also significantly help to alleviate any potential difficulties for farmers since they will continue to be able to obtain these products from existing outlets without having to visit a veterinary practitioner.