British Veterinary Association (BVA) welcomes restored assembly, but says Northern Ireland still faces 'serious threat' to public health of losing access to 51% of veterinary medicines due to EU import restrictions.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the North of Ireland Veterinary Association (NIVA) have repeated their warning that that the EU restrictions pose a potentially serious risk to Northern Ireland in terms of public health, food supplies, animal welfare and trade. An EU grace period on import restrictions is due to expire at the end of next year.

NIVA President and BVA NI Branch President Esther Skelly-Smith welcomed the restoration of the Assembly and said they plan to engage with Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir soon on urgent issues such as the TB eradication programme, a revised animal welfare policy, the role of the vets and animal welfare in food production, as well as the need for regulation of farriers.

She added: "We are also keen to engage with our local Executive urgently to secure its input on the important issue of access to veterinary medicines following the UK Government’s announcement that a new Veterinary Medicines Working Group will seek to resolve the issue."

Last week the BVA warned that if an agreement is not found between the EU and UK, NI could potentially lose access 51% of veterinary medicines, including vaccines for diseases which can infect humans such as salmonella and leptospirosis, as well as insulin for dogs and cats and flu and tetanus vaccines for horses.Ms Esther Skelly-Smith said: “The British Veterinary Association has been highlighting the serious threat to Northern Ireland’s access to veterinary medicines for some time and therefore it’s good to see the Government commit to finding practical, long-term solutions. We have also continued to call for more dialogue between the UK Government and EU Commission on this issue.

"The new Veterinary Medicines Working Group is an important step towards safeguarding supply, which if left unaddressed will have serious and far-reaching consequences for the veterinary profession, the farming and equine sectors, as well as public health."

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said last week that new UK legislation would mean that if the dispute is not resolved, the UK could unilaterally overrule the EU import restrictions.

Tonight DUP MP Ian Paisley said: “The supply of veterinary medicine remains a hugely important issue for Northern Ireland. We have secured an important commitment that the UK government will legislate unilaterally if the issue cannot be resolved through negotiations between the UK and EU. We look forward to details of the legislation being published soon.”

The Department of Agriculture was invited to comment.

In July last year the BVA warned that despite reforms to GB-NI trade outlined in the Windsor Framework (WF), the difficulty remained unresolved and still poses a potentially serious risk to public health, food supplies, animal welfare and trade.

The government told the News Letter that it was working on a solution.

Ms Skelly-Smith told the News Letter last year: “Continued access to veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland remains a serious concern. The UK Government must prioritise finding a permanent workable solution now and not allow the issue to slide towards another cliff edge in two and a half years’ time [in 2025]."Secure access to medicines is vital and we must not lose sight of the significant implications a loss of almost 51 percent of medicines poses, not just to animal health and welfare but also trade, public health and agriculture.”

The EU had granted a three year grace period on the restrictions from GB but the BVA said exactly the same issues will arise again in 2025 without a resolution.

"The mood is, we're very concerned," Dr Skelly Smith said. "This will affect all sectors – farm, equine and pets – and will have significant implications on animal health and welfare, public health, trade and the agricultural economy. Medicines affected include anaesthetics and vaccines, including salmonella vaccine for poultry, the loss of which poses a significant public health issue.”

It will also impact pets and the equine industry.

“Our choice of veterinary medicines will be limited. So we may have welfare issues for your dog and cat if we can't use the veterinary medicine we would want to. That has a big implication for welfare."

Longer term, the scale and costs of implementing EU medicines requirements means companies are likely to withdraw products from NI, she said. The lack of salmonella vaccines for poultry could also mean that NI products may be barred from certain markets, for example the EU.

The BVA said that the import difficulties were caused by Brexit – but have not been resolved by the Windsor Framework.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman responded at the time: "Under the old Protocol over half of existing UK veterinary medicine product lines supplying Northern Ireland could have been at risk at the end of 2022, which would have had serious consequences for human and animal health in Northern Ireland.”

The cliff edge was removed with a three year extension from the EU, she added." This was important to solve the immediate problem, but the BVA are right to emphasise the need for a long-term solution which protects the supply of veterinary medicines into NI. This is what we are now working on.”