A veterinary prescription should be written by a bona fide vet who is available to do out-of-hours services and have a relationship with the farmer client, Veterinary Ireland has argued.

This comes as Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue plans to sign off on new legislation which would change where and how veterinary medicines are sold.

A Veterinary Ireland delegation consisting of Kate O'Dwyer, Conor Geraghty and Donal Lynch attended a meeting between the Minister and key stakeholders involved in the veterinary medicine dispute last week.

Other concerns brought to the Minister's attention on behalf of Veterinary Ireland included the sustainability of veterinary practices being able to provide out-of-hours services into the future.

European standard

Veterinary Ireland has also argued that regulation around the sale and supply of medicine should be in line with Europe. All medicines that are supposed to be subject to a prescription should be subject to be a prescription, it said.

Offaly vet Donal Lynch said that what the Minister has proposed conflicts with the Veterinary Council of Ireland's code of conduct.

"Veterinary Council [of Ireland] are a State regulatory body and how the Minister can go against another arm of the State ... the mind boggles. It also would appear that he [Minister McConalogue] is going against what I would believe to be the HPRA's [Health Products Regulatory Authority] condition," he said.

Lynch said that he is hopeful that the Minister would take on Veterinary Ireland's views, because its vets who really understand the implications of the proposals if they come into play.

"We have three big concerns. We need to protect our human and animal health and our markets as being a food producing nation, that's number one - if that's gone, our farmers don't have a business and as a result we don't have a business, plus morally it's the right thing to do. Number two, that the integrity of a veterinary prescription should be maintained and number three, that our large animal practices need to be made sustainable," Lynch said.