Farmers will be required by law to have a prescription from a vet in order to buy dosing products (anti-parasitics) from July 2025.

Until now products for the control of parasites such as worms, lice, flies and fluke could be bought over the counter at a licensed merchant, however they are now being “up-regulated” to prescription -only medicine (POM) status.

The costs of these prescriptions will be passed back to farmers with retailers unable to absorb the costs, Ray Doyle of the Irish Co-operative Society (ICOS) said.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue signed the Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulations 2024 into law last Thursday, 12 September.

From mid-January 2025, farmers will begin receiving electronic prescriptions from their vet in place of paper prescriptions.

Once farmers receive a prescription – which will be sent either by email or text message – they will be permitted to purchase veterinary medicines through the same supply channels as before. From June 2025, when prescribing anti-parasitics, vets will also be required to complete a ‘proper assessment protocol’ if he or she is not providing ongoing veterinary services to the farmer, including clinical contact with the animals.

Veterinary Ireland, however, is critical of this new “distance-prescribing arrangement” for antiparasitic veterinary medicines.

“It is vital that farmers engage with their own veterinary practitioner to get proper tailored advice on dosing arrangements, and this will result in farmers using less antiparasitic veterinary medicines, savings to farmers and improved productivity and profit, while addressing resistance,” chair of Veterinary Ireland Conor Geraghty said.

Meanwhile, merchants have said that they have been “hung out to dry” as a result of the new regulation.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Offaly merchant and member of the Irish Licensed Merchants Association (ILMA) Ollie Ryan said: “The changes being implemented will now see a two-tier system in operation north and south of the border, which is completely unworkable. This is a huge missed opportunity by the minister to increase competition in the market place.”

ICOS said the decision will directly damage licensed merchants across Ireland, severely inhibiting their businesses, disadvantaging farmers and undermining a key pillar of rural commerce.