Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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502. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to urgently address the high cost of animal medications (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27088/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not regulate the cost of veterinary medicines, my responsibility is with regard to ensuring authorised medicines are available and used correctly. All authorised veterinary medicines are required to go through a rigorous and costly process of quality safety and efficacy assessments prior to becoming available to treat and protect the health and welfare of our animals.

The Veterinary Medicines legislation supports increased availability of medicines to treat conditions in animals and this has enhanced our ability to protect our animals and improve their quality of life. However legislative controls do require vets to use a veterinary medicine as opposed to a human medicine if a suitable veterinary medicine is authorised and available ,even if the cost of the human medicine is significantly cheaper.

Whilst it is not the role of my Department to directly regulate the cost of veterinary medicines, my officials do engage with the veterinary medicine authorisation holders and can raise the concerns regarding cost with them.