Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Browne for raising those points. I will deal first with the intra-mammary tubes. Similar points were raised here earlier. As I pointed out, they are antibiotics and they are subject to a prescription that has a five-day life span. That is as long as a prescription for an antibiotic would last. What is proposed here for a new prescription for antiparasitics is a 12-month life span. We are trying to strike the right balance between safeguarding and offering farmers the greatest choice while also meeting our legal regulatory requirements and trying to ensure we are very mindful of the impact on merchants here. The 12-month licence makes it very clear there could be a significant gap between the day a prescription is acquired and the day the product is purchased. Obviously, given that intra-mammary tubes are antibiotics, that gap is only five days. It stands to reason that if one gets a prescription that will last for five days, we would probably expect this product to be purchased that same day or very close to it. They are not necessarily comparing like with like.

To answer the Deputy's other question, if I were sitting in any other chair here, I would see the balance that there is. I would see the great regard in which we all hold the responsible persons and for the role they have played in the past, but I would also see the challenges of the up-regulation that antiparasitics have brought in. I would see the challenge of trying to maintain the maximum flexibility and choice for farmers while also making sure we meet our regulatory requirements.

I would also see, taking a fair-minded approach, the great medium and longer term threat if we do not take a serious approach to how antiparasitics are used in livestock. Earlier, I highlighted that there are only four key groups of drenches, as farmers would know them, and lots of products come from them. Only four key groups of drenches have active ingredients and if our livestock become resistant to any one of those four groups the number of options available will be reduced. Preventing such a situation is the motivation for this legislation. This is about giving assurances to the very farmers that the members and myself represent. We must ensure that their livestock and pasture-based system, which is so crucial to farmers and the rural communities in which farmers live, is protected long into the future. Our approach is about trying to strike the right balance.