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The Veterinary Medicines Regulation (EU 2019/6) came into force in all EU member states on 28 January 2022. This regulation places particular emphasis on prudent and responsible antimicrobial use in food animal production. Key changes include restrictions on the prophylactic use of antimicrobials in animals, and the possibility to reserve certain antimicrobials for humans only. The Regulation presents challenges to the Irish dairy industry, particularly with respect to current approaches to dry cow therapy. In response, the CellCheck technical working group (TWG, a technical group working in support of CellCheck, the national mastitis control programme) have developed pragmatic national and farm-level recommendations in support of improved mastitis control and intramammary antimicrobial stewardship in the Irish dairy industry. This paper outlines these recommendations, and provides an overview of the evidence considered to inform the TWG during its work (including the Regulation, policy perspectives, international best-practice, international scientific reviews and specific Irish challenges). In many key areas of concern, the TWG recognises the challenges in seeking to shape recommendations in the absence of robust and practical scientific evidence. For this reason, some of the recommended actions are pragmatic in nature, informed by national and international experiences. Periodic programme review will be needed, informed by ongoing monitoring of key performance indicators, to identify those actions that are most effective in an Irish context.

In their seminal report into primary care research and development, Mant observed that there was: > ‘… a serious mismatch between the financial and clinical importance to the NHS of decisions made in primary care and the available evidence and research capacity in this sector.’1 Primary care research is much stronger than it was when this report was published in 1997, but it is still the case that while the majority of care takes place in primary care, clinicians often have to make decisions in an evidence void. Where research exists, it has commonly been conducted in patients who are not typical of the primary care population. For example, skin problems,2 disorders of the digestive system,3 and allergy-related4 problems are commonly seen in primary care, but a recent review of UK primary care research activity highlighted a paucity of studies conducted in primary care.5 The case for more primary care based dermatology research is particularly pressing. Skin conditions are the most common reason for people to consult their GP with a new problem.2 According to a recent report on health care needs for skin conditions, almost one-quarter (24%) of the population in England and Wales (12.9 million people) visited …