Merchants will lose 20% of their turnover if new veterinary medicine rules come into force, the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee has heard.

From 1 September, farmers will need a veterinary prescription to purchase anti-parasitics, such as wormers, from their co-op or merchant.

Terence O’Shea from the Irish Licensed Merchants Association (ILMA) said that the impact of this new requirement will force a number of merchants out of business.

“The sector that we represent are village and small town merchants, maybe 20% of their turnover is veterinary medicines but that’s also probably 20% of their profit,” he said.

Forced exit

“They’re forced to exit the industry – their ability to generate profit drops by 20% – but their insurance doesn’t drop by 20%, or their light bill or heat bill,” he said.

O’Shea predicted that around 300 merchants will go out of business over the next 12 months if the changes go ahead in September.

The ILMA represents around 350 small licensed and general merchants mainly along the western seaboard and in border counties.

“These are the merchants that are there on Saturday nights and they’re open on Sunday to supply all farm needs,” he said.

Merchants, if forced to exit the animal health industry, will become totally unviable going forward, according Barry Larkin, CEO of Acorn Independent Merchants and representative of Merchants Alliance Ireland.

Stopping merchants from selling anti-parasitics will not result in lower usage, Larkin argued, adding that it will be no different to 2022 when merchants were prevented from selling intramammary antimicrobials.

“The whole idea of the regulation is to reduce use and become more prudent. The same amount of antimicrobials are still being used today as there was before the regulation was changed in 2022 – the same impact is going to happen for the anti-parastics,” he said.