Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to make a point and I have not spoken all evening. The Department is speaking about 12-month prescriptions that will be of benefit to reduce resistance in animals. In actual fact a 12-month prescription, if given by a vet, would be counter-productive to what the Department is trying to achieve. If vets give the full possible coverage that farmers need for the year they would be providing drugs the farmers might not need depending on various circumstances. To say that vets will give 12-month prescriptions that will help to reduce resistance in animals is a fallacy and it is wrong. If we get a dry year farmers will not need a fluke dose. If we get a wet year they will need it. When we get damp weather we have more fluke than in a dry year. To think vets will say on 1 March or 1 April that they can predict what farmers will need for 12 months is wrong and misleading.