Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and support in full the questions he asked a few moments ago.

The intersection between doping in horse racing and what emerged from the "Panorama" documentary shown last night is the matter of animal welfare. Doping often involves considerable cruelty to the horses involved. Obviously, what we saw on the programme last night was extremely disturbing. As a person who sees horse racing on television every week, I am always struck that in the presentation of it to the public, and the reason people like it so much, a great love for the horse is projected in all the talk around the sport and in the commentary about the animals. The picture we are getting in recent times in Ireland, however, is that while we might be a horse-loving nation - to use Deputy Flaherty's phrase - and while there might be many people in horse racing who do love horses, there seem to be many people in the horse racing industry who do not love horses and who see them as machines and entities to be used for making money. One of the reasons we are so concerned about the possibility of a massive drug problem in Irish horse racing is because we know what is going on in America where horses have been broken down and given drugs to mask pain so they can be used to death. We have now seen a documentary that tells us 4,000 horses are being slaughtered in Britain.

I thank our guests for coming in. My questions for them today really come down to whether they are being too conservative in approach to their work and whether they are actually pursuing an animal welfare agenda. I will start by asking the officials whether it is against the law in the State to transport over a long distance injured animals for slaughter? If this is not against the law, why is that the case? While the officials cannot comment here because they cannot criticise policy, and their answers here today are very guarded, they are the people responsible for encouraging policy-making and urging legislation. The officials are behind the legislation that is brought before these Houses. If such a practice is not against the law why is it not? If it is against the law how is it that the Department is not enforcing the law? With great respect to the officials, it is hard for us to believe that they are very surprised by what was on the documentary last night. Most people would feel that the Department had a fair idea for some time that this kind of thing is going on. Am I being unfair?