Northern Ireland veterinary medicine access to continue in 'vast majority of cases'
The government has insisted that in "the vast majority of cases" vets, farmers and pet owners will continue to have access to the medicines they need when the grace period on the supply of veterinary medicines comes to end at the end of this year.
The Secretary of State Hilary Benn made the promise in a ministerial statement released to Parliament on Thursday afternoon.
The change means EU rules on animal medicines will apply in Northern Ireland from January 1 which will place restrictions on the supply of products from the rest of the UK.
GB suppliers will need to make adaptions to continue to sell into the region, leading to concerns that some critical products, that vets traditionally source from across the Irish Sea, will no longer be available.
The Government has announced two schemes designed to ease the flow of veterinary medicines from Great Britain into Northern Ireland to ensure the supply of veterinary medicines does not face a cliff edge when the new rules come into force on Jan 1.
In a policy paper published by the Secretary of State Hilary Benn said government officials have undertaken 18 months of extensive research to ensure a smooth changeover.
The Veterinary Medicines Internal Market Scheme pledges to streamline the process of securing the restricted medicines from GB.
While vets will be asked to consider if a similar product is available in the EU, they will be permitted to purchase it from GB if they determine the cost or time taken to import it from Europe would be prohibitive.
Vets will also be able to pre-emptively secure the medicines so they have stock at hand when required. The requirement for a special import certificate to move the medicines from GB to NI will also be removed.
A second initiative, the Veterinary Medicines Health Situation Scheme, is being set up to monitor the industry to identify potential discontinuation issues as they emerge and ensure a supply of alternative medicines are made available.
The government says it believes the majority of medicines will remain available although it admits that a small number of medicines will not.
Although the new initiatives have not been negotiated with the European Union, the government says it has been kept officials aware of what the UK was developing and that the new schemes are compliant with EU law.
The Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir says he is "disappointed" that concerns he had raised with the government have not been addressed.
"I'm worried that the UK government are overselling this and I'll be seeking another meeting with the UK government about this," he added.
Sinn Fein has welcomed today's development, but the DUP's Carla Lockhart has hit out at the move.
The Upper Bann MP said: "Although these latest proposals are presented as progress, the stark reality is that the Government has chosen to prioritise placating the EU over protecting the interests of animals, vets, farmers, and the wider agri-food sector in Northern Ireland."
The British Veterinary Association, which has been calling for the matter to be urgently addressed, has described today as development as "a positive development".
However President Dr Elizabeth Mullineaux has said: "Whilst the remedies provide some reassurances, the detail of how the schemes work for vets in Northern Ireland will be critical to understanding how effective they are in reality."
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