Mr. Michael Sheahan:

Senator Mullen asked if it is illegal to transport horses over long distances if they are injured. Absolutely. There is no equivocation about it. This is in European legislation, Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 is the regulation that deals with the transport of animals. There is no doubt about it whatsoever. It is absolutely illegal to transport animals if they are injured if it is judged to add to the pain and suffering. On last night's programme we saw pictures of a couple of horses that were obviously very lame and one in particular was clearly holding its leg and was visibly lame. There is no doubt that if this animal was loaded on a box and transported in that condition, it would clearly be against the law. To be fair, I do not know if that was the case. Perhaps-----