The ongoing battle by vets to keep international veterinary chains out of the country has woken up an old enemy. The Competition and Consumer Protection Council (CCPC) is now taking an interest in developments. “The CCPC is aware that the issue of ownership of practices has been under consideration by the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI),” a spokesman told The Dealer, adding: “We recently wrote to the VCI seeking an update on developments within this sector.”
The ongoing battle by vets to keep international veterinary chains out of the country has woken up an old enemy. The Competition and Consumer Protection Council (CCPC) is now taking an interest in developments.
“The CCPC is aware that the issue of ownership of practices has been under consideration by the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI),” a spokesman told The Dealer, adding: “We recently wrote to the VCI seeking an update on developments within this sector.”
Vets tangled with the then Competition Authority 20 years ago and got a bloody nose. After complaints by ICMSA and IFA, it raided the offices of the then Irish Veterinary Union and caught the union red-handed fixing minimum prices for its members for TB testing and other farm work.
In 2008, the Competition Authority produced a major report with several recommendations for increasing competition in the veterinary sector. Several were never acted upon but there the matter laid.
But now the CCPC sees vets’ attempts to keep out multinational chains as an attempt to keep out competition and it has decided to throw off its coat and get stuck in.
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