Gudrun Ravetz (center) with Patsy McGlone, Michelle McIlveen (DAERA minister of agriculture), BVA Northern Ireland branch president Seamus O’Kane and Northern Ireland CVO Robert Huey.

President highlights forthcoming challenges at annual dinner

Vets in Northern Ireland face unique challenges and opportunities as ministers start planning Brexit, according to the BVA.

Speaking at the organisation’s annual Northern Ireland dinner on Thursday (24 November), BVA president Gudrun Ravetz discussed the impact of the UK’s EU referendum.

“Many of us were hit by the shock result of the UK's referendum on EU membership," she said.

"Northern Ireland, in sharing a land border with an EU member state, is unique in the United Kingdom – which is why one of [BVA's] first actions was to write to [the] Minister calling for maintenance of the Common Travel Area to facilitate movement for work and study purposes."

Hosted by the BVA Honorary Associate Patsy McGlone, the dinner was attended by DAERA minister Michelle McIlveen, key representatives of animal health and welfare organisations and senior members of the veterinary profession.

On animal health - one of BVA's six priorities for consideration in Brexit negotiations - Ms Ravetz praised Northern Ireland's excellence in joined up working. This, she said, has resulted in the continued progress towards full Officially Brucellosis Free (OBF) status as well as progress on the compulsory Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication scheme.

“We hope that these examples of effective, industry-government-veterinary working will stand us in good stead as Northern Ireland's BSE Negligible Risk status application progresses,” she added.

On animal welfare, another of BVA's key Brexit priorities, Ms Ravetz commended Northern Ireland for having led the way in its review of the Welfare of Animals Act (2011). She also praised DAERA (then DARD) for effective working with the Department of Justice to put recommendations into practice so quickly.

“With this in mind, we'd ask that the recommendations from the Welfare of Animals Act review that dog breeding establishments are inspected for how they socialise animals and enhance and enrich their environments are brought forward and written into regulations as soon as possible,” she said.

Ms Ravetz concluded her speech by reiterating the veterinary profession's responsibility as animal welfare advocates:

“As we look ahead post-Brexit, BVA is calling on governments to ensure that the unique selling point of the “UK plc” should continue to be high animal welfare and food safety standards," she explained.

Image (C) BVA