Merchants to hold meeting on veterinary medicine changes

An industry meeting between the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the Independent Licensed Merchants Association (ILMA) and Acorn Independent Merchants will take place in Tullamore, Co. Offaly tomorrow (Tuesday, July 30).

The merchant groups will discuss the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2023 which is yet to be signed by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.

Minister McConalogue has been urged by the merchant groups to "press pause" on the process, claiming that once the Statutory Instrument (SI) is signed, it will "effectively legislate all licensed merchants out of business".

Draft veterinary medicinal product regulations under the act are currently under consideration, however, these have not yet been finalised or signed, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

In a joint statement issued today (Monday, July 29), the merchants said they are "very annoyed and frustrated" by Minister Minister McConalogue and his approach taken to this legislation which was signed into law in July 2023.

ICOS, the ILMA and Acorn Independent Merchants said they have "constructively interacted" with the minister and his officials over the last three years and "worked out a fair and practical approach" to enacting the medicinal/veterinary legislation.

“After one fractious meeting with the veterinary profession - who have scare mongered inaccurately about the potential impact on private veterinary practitioners - the statutory instrument has drastically changed over the last 10 days."

“The minister needs to immediately press pause on this whole process as all operators need to be able to continue their respective business, but above all, farmers need easy access to and healthy competition for veterinary medicinal products.

“Over 70% of all veterinary medicinal products are currently sold through veterinary channels and the minister wants to legislate further regulation to increase this even more, effectively handing a monopoly to the veterinary channels," the groups said.

“Farmers will ultimately be the losers if this goes through as many co-ops, licensed merchants, and Acorn group branches simply won’t be able to continue to retail veterinary/medicinal products," according to the statement.

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Minister McConalogue recently met with Veterinary Ireland to discuss their members' concerns regarding the proposed changes to the supply of veterinary medicine. Veterinary Ireland described the meeting as "constructive".

Veterinary Ireland expressed its concerns over the potential consequences of the act for vets, including job losses, animal health, public health and the agricultural industry. The minister said he would "consider" the concerns raised.

President of Veterinary Ireland, Hazell Mullins said that potential job losses will affect all vets, with particular consequences for out-of-hour services. There are currently 600 farm animal vets working in Ireland.

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