Committee on Agriculture and the Marine to discuss Veterinary medicines with Representatives from Independent Licensed Merchants Association and Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU)

The Independent Licensed Merchants Association and Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) will attend in Committee Room 2, watch live, to discuss Article 105(4) EU Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products EU 2019/6, with officials from the Department  of Agriculture, Food and the Marine appearing from 5pm for a briefing on the same topic.

• Article 105 states that all medicines for food producing animals including horses are subject to a veterinary prescription.
• A Licenced Merchant is a retail premises licenced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to retail veterinary medicinal products. It is subject to regulation, inspection and control by DAFM. There are over 900 Licensed Merchants premises and over 300 veterinary pharmacists’ premises in Ireland.
• The Irish Pharmacy Union, who represent over 2000 pharmacies in Ireland, of which over 300 of whom are committed to the supply of veterinary medicines.

Ahead of the meeting, Chair Jackie Cahill, TD, said: “The focus for our meeting on Thursday will be to assess the regulatory challenges and solutions which the Independent Licensed Merchants Association and the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) propose with respect to the issue of the dispensing of veterinary medicines, these matters impact hugely on the farming and agri sector. Furthermore, the input of officials from the Department  of Agriculture, Food and the Marine during the second session of the meeting will help the committee to reflect on the contributions received, and assist us as we seek to provide solutions.”

For more information about the work of the Committee on Agriculture and the Marine, see the Committee webpage