Merchants and co-ops slam new vet package

Merchants and co-ops have hit out at the new €12.8m Department-funded financial package for vets to help with the roll-out of the new National Veterinary Prescribing System (NVPS).

Merchants argue that they have been left to bear the full cost of implementing the new legislation in their stores, with no financial aid discussed with their members.

Offaly-based merchant Ollie Ryan said that the move clearly shows that ultimately the cost of the introduction of the new system is going to be borne by dispensers and farmers.

“As previously predicted by licensed merchants, it is inevitable that a monopoly is being created in the market for veterinary medicine.”

Barry Larkin from the ACORN group of merchants said the new funding package shows “clear favouritism towards vets, and shows a total disregard for the role licensed merchants play in the distribution of animal health products”.

Ray Doyle from the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) said the package is “nothing short of astonishing”.

Higher costs

“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 and co-operative marts sector and ultimately higher costs for farmers. We urge the Department of Public Expenditure to scrutinise any such deal very carefully in the interests of upholding competition.”

Speaking on behalf of the Irish Licensed Merchants Association Terence O'Shea said that vets have been given a “sweetener” to secure buy-in to the new system. “The idea that what is essentially a hand out to one stakeholder group to secure their support calls into question the entire animal medicines regulations in its current format,” he said.