Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials to the meeting. We had a very good engagement this morning with the witnesses. I did not think it was satisfactory in terms of their answers. Of course, the big problem we had was that we did not get from them a definitive number of minks that are on these farms today; not yesterday or tomorrow but today. There is a long lead-in and mink breed pretty rapidly. If one wanted to bring the numbers up, one could do so pretty rapidly. That is just a cautionary note I want to raise.

I want to share with the Minister that I was also somewhat disappointed that there was much talk about the individuals involved but not too much talk about the workers. Again, it raises the issue of data, facts and figures with regard to this industry. How many people are registered and officially employed on these farms today? I simply do not know. I would be interested in hearing from the Department about its knowledge of how many minks are in this country. We know from media reports some months ago in the context of the Denmark mink controversy, although it was in an Irish newspaper, that there was a confirmation of approximately 120,000 mink in this country at that time. The witnesses did not seem to dispute that with us. Indeed, two of them nodded their heads. I, therefore, took it that it was around that or perhaps more but they did not contradict that suggestion that there were approximately 120,000 mink in the country.

We were not told how many employees there were. When I asked the witnesses what they had in mind in terms of a package for the workers, they said they did not know. They did not seem to come up with any opposition to any idea I suggested. Indeed, I took from it, and this is my own view, that they did not really give much thought to it at all. Certainly, I was interested when the Minister's official talked about what the ownership of these companies can contribute to their workforce. We need to know exactly the numbers of registered employees on these farms and we need to talk about compensation for them. I am sympathetic to the people involved in the businesses.

This is Government policy. Phasing this out is a Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party agreement in the programme for Government. That is, therefore, the reality. This is a numbers game; the Minister knows it and politicians at this meeting know the story. The Minister has seen what has been happening in the Dáil and the Seanad in the last few months. If the Government has the largest numbers, it can effectively do what it likes and we have to put up with it. That is the reality and it is frustrating for someone who is in the Opposition. It is not good politics. There will be a day and a time when the road will break and people have to go left, right and centre and then there will be all sorts of complaints and accusations. That is for another day. It is inevitable and it is going to happen.

On what is in hand today, I am interested in what will happen to the workers in these places. I am interested in fair and equitable compensation for the people through the Government's decision and policy to close their businesses down. They need to be supported but we need to see the whole package.

I set out today the animal welfare issues and EU regulations, with which the Minister will be familiar, regarding the culling of animals. Welfare is another aspect about which I have had more calls and emails than about any other matter. I spoke today about mechanical operations, instruments that penetrate the brain, overdose of drugs by anaesthetics, electrocution by cardiac arrest and exposure to carbon monoxide, chloroform and carbon dioxide. They are options I do not necessarily support but they are set out in these regulations. Two of the people told us today that they are using carbon monoxide to destroy these animals. What is clear in these regulations or in whatever the Minister and his officials intend to do is that we need to have veterinary and animal welfare people oversee the culling of these animals. It needs to be very clear. That is important. I do not believe we can allow for any vagueness here. Whatever the Department and the veterinarians believe is the appropriate way to deal with this, it needs to be set out in order that we have no ambiguity about it. That is a major concern.

I want to wrap up by commenting on the inevitability of it all. It is about fairness to the companies involved and to the employees, who need a far better package and who are my concern. We also need very strict guidelines, which are in line with international practice and European Union regulations, and statutory instruments with regard to this matter. That is really important. I thank the Minister for listening. It is important we set out and address specifically those issues.