The amendment inserts a provision whereby the "dispensing of a veterinary medicinal product prescribed for an animal to which the European Union (Protection of Animals used for Scientific Purposes) Regulations 2012 (S. I. No. 543 of 2012) applies by a veterinarian where the prescription for the product has been prescribed by another veterinarian". This amendment is necessary to allow the Minister to make regulations for the dispensing of veterinary medicinal products in a research environment. Amendment No. 7 is ne…

I thank all Members of the Seanad for their time and attention to this Bill, and their further detailed consideration of it. I thank the staff here also for their work in facilitating its effective and efficient passage. I thank all of those in the Oireachtas Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in relation to the earlier aspects of the Bill, and I thank all of the Deputies in Dail Éireann. I also thank the staff who worked so hard to bring legislation from the design stage, through the drafting asp…

I thank the Senator for his work today. I also recognise the role of the chief veterinarian, Martin Blake. I should have mentioned the role he played throughout this process as well. It was important and appreciated.

You are a real beauty. That will be remembered, Mick.

I am pleased to bring the Bill to the Seanad. I welcome the support it received when it concluded its passage through the Dáil on 31 May. The Bill legislates for two areas. The first part seeks to modernise the area of veterinary medicines and medicated feed. Last year, we saw the implementation of two new EU regulations in this area. The Bill reinforces those regulations in Irish legislation in a once-in-a-generation change. It shows our commitment to the key objectives of the regulations, namely, addressing antim…

I thank all Senators for their wide-ranging and well-thought-out contributions, which I will certainly take on board. I wish to recap on some of the key objectives. One of the main objectives of the Bill is to ensure that the recently introduced EU legislation, which I gave effect to earlier this year with the enactment of SI 36/2022, European Union (Veterinary Medicinal Products and Medicated Feed) Regulations 2022, could be implemented in international law. The Bill before the House is, therefore, an important pa…

I thank the Members for scheduling this today. I am pleased to present the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022 to the Seanad for Second Stage. The Bill was initiated in the Dáil in December 2022 and passed all Stages on 24 May. The Bill implements the programme for Government commitment to ensure fairness, equity and transparency in the food chain by establishing a new authority to enforce the unfair trading practices directive, with a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data. This…

Best wishes to former Deputy, Mr. Neville. Part 2 comprises sections 7 to 54. Chapter 1, sections 7 to 10, deals with the establishment of provisions that provides that the official name of the office will be an rialálaí agraibhia and that the new office shall be independent in the performance of its functions. Chapter 2, sections 11 to 20, deals with the key functions to be delivered by the regulator. First, it will deliver a price and market analysis and reporting function and, in doing so, the new body will faci…

I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this issue this morning. It is really important and every opportunity we get to communicate on it and discuss it is welcome. I absolutely accept that farmers have concerns about it and also that it is easy to create concern about it as well. The opportunity to engage, discuss and communicate where we are at and where we want to go is welcome. I, as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and this Government understand the concerns farmers have, and we are working to make sur…

I thank Deputy Cahill again for bringing this up today, and bringing these concerns to the table. This is something I have been working on for more than a year since the policy proposals were first published by the Commission. It is something I have been working on with Government colleagues, and with fellow European agriculture ministers at Council of Ministers level. The changes we got and that have now been agreed with other agriculture ministers through the Council of Ministers deal with many of the issues and …

As the Deputy knows, ACRES has been a strong success with farmers across this country. It was oversubscribed by 50% and as a Government we stepped forward to make sure that every applicant could participate. The vast majority of farmers in Clare will receive significantly increased payments under ACRES, as they will with all the other scheme I have launched, be that the suckler scheme or under the new basic income support for sustainability. Some day the Deputy might put a euro in their pocket as well. On the natur…

We are funding them.

We, in government, will back them financially and deliver them an income.

Unfortunately, no matter how much the Deputy talks here, he has not put €1 in their pockets. In relation to the-----

If talk was not cheap, Deputy McNamara would be great. It is very cheap in his case.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the proposed nature restoration regulation here today and in particular on how it interacts with agriculture. I have seen some commentary both inside and outside this House in recent weeks. There has been a real attempt in some quarters to create fear and concern among farmers. I am here today to spell out the facts as they are, the current state of play and how I am working to protect our farm families while meeting our responsibilities to protect our environment and biodivers…

I thank Deputy Kerrane for the amendment. It is something we discussed on Committee Stage. Having considered it, it is not something I propose to accept on the basis that the national veterinary prescription system, NVPS, allows for veterinary prescriptions to be marked as dispensed on the system. When we discussed this on Committee Stage, my understanding was that stakeholders wanted to ensure there is a robust system that records partial dispensing of prescriptions, including dates and amounts dispensed. I can co…

Potentially if there is a repeat-----

I move amendment No. 4: In page 10, line 28, to delete “regulations.” and substitute the following: “regulations; (i) requirements for a proper assessment of the health status of the animal or group of animals to which the animal belongs by a veterinarian for the purposes of issuing a prescription for specified categories of veterinary medicinal products for non-therapeutic treatment.”.

I thank Deputy Kerrane for the amendment. I know we discussed it on Committee Stage as well. I do not propose to accept it. We have given the amendment thought, but we are well covered in the legislation as it is. The legislation was sent to the Data Protection Commissioner for consultation, which indicated it welcomed the inclusion of the listed bodies and the reasons for data sharing. My Department has undertaken to put data sharing agreements in place with each body, before any data sharing takes place. Any data…