Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Knowing that this was the case, what was the Department's role? We have been told that this side of this industry is a very financially important industry and a lot of people - I would say most people in the industry - are acutely aware of animal welfare and will be horrified by what they saw. Given that there had been a previous conviction for animal welfare what measures were put in place by the Department to monitor this facility? It was not as if there was one in every county. This was one equine abattoir that happens to be in my constituency. People have contacted me since who had made complaints to the Department about concerns around welfare. They told me that they had raised complaints with the Department. Would there not have been a rigorous kind of oversight of this facility? It is not as if there was one in every county. It was one.