A court has heard that a Co Mayo-based pharmacist "grossly over supplied" antibiotics and other prescription-only medication to an East Galway farm in September 2015
Daragh Quinn of Quinn’s Chemist, Bridge Street, Crossmolina admitted to 34 breaches of Department of Agriculture regulations regarding the supply of animal remedies to a farm in Eyrecourt
Castlebar District Court heard this week that Mr Quinn was over supplying antibiotics to farmer Richard Bourns of Lisbeg Farms, Eyrecourt which is one of the largest farms in Connacht.
Giving an example of Mr Quinn’s practice Louis Riordan, a veterinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture said on one occasion he dispensed a total of 26 bottles of a certain antibiotic over a period of time despite the prescription being for six bottles.
According to the Irish Times online Mr Quinn pleaded guilty to a number of breaches of the European Communities Animal Remedies regulations, including the supply of animal remedies without a valid prescription and falsely endorsing a prescription.
While Mr Quinn admitted to the charges, he said his premises had been inspected by department officials on a previous occasion and his practices were never queried before then.
Mr Riordan explained that it appeared that the vets had not inspected the animals before issuing the prescriptions and they were not cooperative during the investigation.
While accepting Mr Quinn pleaded guilty, Judge Devins felt it would be difficult to find him guilty of some of the charges against him based on the evidence.
She adjourned the closing submissions until September 12th in Ballina District Court.
