The new veterinary medicine law must maximise competition around the price and supply of vaccines and doses for farmers, IFA animal health chair TJ Maher has said.

The law must also recognise the privacy of a farmer’s own vet when it comes to prescribing anthelmintics, he said.

He said the issue has dragged on for a number of years and stakeholders are “still a long way from” a resolution that meets the needs of farmers.

The dispute over who will be allowed to sell vaccines and doses to farmers under the new law rumbles on this week.

The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the Independent Licensed Merchants Association (ILMA) and the Acorn group said they were very annoyed and frustrated with the minister and his approach to this 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,” it said.

It called on the minister to hit pause on the process until a deal can be hammered out.

Offaly-based vet Donal Lynch has argued that allowing merchants to dispense veterinary medicines will undermine the out of hours services vets provide and the advice they can give.

“As long as it’s a level playing field, we’re happy. I’ve no problem if you qualify as a vet and you set up here in Tullamore and you start selling Bovipast to my clients.

“I’ve no issue with that, as long as when a farmer has an animal with pneumonia and they ring you and it’s three o’clock of a Sunday afternoon and you say that’s no problem, I’ll be with you in half an hour. I’ve no complaint with that,” he said.

“We’re not trying to take business away from merchants; we want to see them be successful too, but they don’t get out of bed at night to provide an out-of-hours service.”

Vets, Lynch added, are in a much better position to advise farmers on what vaccines or doses they should be using.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that his objective is for “the best possible outcome for farmers that sees availability of product with appropriate oversight”.