THE country's vets acquired a new image at the weekend. They emerged reborn from the solid, comfortable Great Southern Hotel in Killarney after their congress.
Perhaps that image was best captured late on Saturday when the Irish Veterinary Union elected its first woman president to lead them into the next two years.
Kerry born Ms Ann Scanlon is young, articulate and works in general practice in Dunboyne, Co Meath. Married with two young children, she is the perfect manifestation of a bright, modern, forward looking organisation.
Mr Tom Hanley, the outgoing president, made it clear where the union, with its 800 members, will be heading. The IVU, he said, will become consumer friendly.
"We have to change the image. We are not just about calving cows and checking farmers. We have a vital link in ensuring that food is clean and the consumer gets the best available", he said.
It is a strange irony that the IVU can get to where it wants to be because of the privatisation of the bovine TB and brucellosis eradication scheme earlier this year.
For years nearly the entire business of the annual meeting has been taken up with the bovine TB scheme. This time last year the scheme was being forced on reluctant vets.
There was stalemate for a number of months and at one stage the Department of Agriculture even invited foreign vets in to test cattle. The vets held the line, stood by their fees and in a sense won the day.
A year on, the vets expressed satisfaction with the way the scheme is working out. They are being paid by the farmers now rather than by the State, and at a session on Thursday night they were told that a Farmers' Journal survey showed the vast majority of farmers are happy with their vets and the new scheme.
In private conversation, some of the older vets are pleased that they are being paid now on the day for their work, and are not relying on the State to provide their basic funding, which left them open to public criticism.
Mr Joe Connelly, one of the founder members of the union 26 years ago, proposed a sarcastic vote of confidence in the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, for uniting the union.
The programme of events since Thursday also reflected the new image, with many seminars dealing with issues such as food safety, the quality assurance scheme and disease control as it relates to human health.
These were held in conjunction with the mother organisation, the Irish Veterinary Association, which represents 900 vets who work mainly in the non general practice areas.
These two organisations are moving closer and now publish a joint magazine. At the IVU a.g.m. there was even a motion passed establishing a working party to examine the possibilities of moving the IVU headquarters out of Dublin into a building shared with the IVA and the other two smaller veterinary groups.
On the issue of BSE, the vets feel that the worst may be over and cases should decline from now on. They also believe the system has got to grips with the problem of "angel dust" abuse.
There is concern, however, over the level of brucellosis cases, which is growing rapidly and which both organisations feel is a serious threat to animal health.
Again, keeping in step with the needs of the consumer, the organisations arranged seminars on small animal practice, a growing trade in the veterinary industry, with more and more vets becoming involved in treating pets.