As the Taoiseach will be aware, a report on the proposed regulation of veterinary medicines was recently published by the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I have a copy with me. It contains clear commitments. These commitments and recommendations were agreed in a unified manner and received cross-party support. Many stakeholders in the industry also support these recommendations. When will these recommendations be fully acted upon and implemented? Time is running out. Thousands of jobs connected to the agri-merchant sector are at risk. I ask the Taoiseach to act upon these recommendations to ensure that responsible persons and pharmacists are allowed to continue to prescribe veterinary medicines. This issue is urgent and I have raised it a number of times. We are running out of time and I appeal to the Taoiseach again to act on these recommendations.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, will give consideration to this report. There was a working group on this issue. Prescribing is a serious matter, so obviously the Minister and the Department will have to give due consideration to the report. It is the intention of the Minister to work on the recommendations. If the Deputy engages with the Minister, he will bring her up to date on the state of play.