Mr. Michael Sheahan:

The EU takes a very good approach to the issue of animal welfare and slaughter plants. It insists that everybody in a slaughter plant who deals with live animals has to have done a training course, passed an examination and have a certificate of competence. Everybody in the horse slaughter plant who dealt with the live animal had to have that. The same applies to every kind of slaughter plant. This is a good and sensible law. It does not happen too often that a new slaughter plant opens but when it does, the secretary of the company, the director or the accountant can make the application and, for better or for worse, there is no requirement for him or her to have done an animal welfare training course. The legislation simply says he or she has to be a fit and proper person. I asked our legal people today what that means and it made the point that it is a term that is used in legislation but is a very hard one to define. Let us say I was the accountant of a company with a conviction for cruelty. There is nothing to stop me from making an application to set up a slaughter plant. There is no requirement regarding the person signing the application form. Once I am registered with the Companies Office-----