ICOS has strongly criticised the €12.8m financial package to help vets with the implementation of the new national veterinary prescription system (NVPS) which came into operation on January 13th.
The NVPS is an electronic national database which will collect all veterinary prescriptions. This Regulation provides for the upregulation of all anti-parasitics to prescription only medicine (POM) status. This means that anti-parasitics (such as fluke/worm products) will now only be available on foot of a veterinary prescription issued by a vet.
However, commenting on the financial package for vets, Ray Doyle of ICOS said, “The manner in which the State is granting multi-million funding towards the NVPS and thereby further enabling the veterinary sector to corner a monopoly on the prescription of medicines and treatments is nothing short of astonishing. These developments will have far-reaching consequences, and their true cost will only become apparent in the years to come with reduced competition from the licensed merchants and co-operative branches and ultimately higher costs for farmers. We urge the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to scrutinise any such deal very carefully in the interests of upholding competition and the future sustainability of livestock farming in Ireland.”