Mr. Michael Sheahan:

It is a very valid point. We have seen the experience abroad, in particular in the United States, where there was a campaign for many years to shut down horse slaughter facilities. Eventually, that campaign succeeded and, arguably, it has made the situation worse because horses are being exported to Mexico and Canada, going on long journeys and so on. There are sometimes unintended consequences.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a very small plant. It is killing fewer than 2,000 animals a year. The scale of the horse slaughter industry in Ireland is now very small compared to what it was back in 2013. At one stage, there were four slaughter plants killing horses and, at a peak, we killed 24,000 horses. In line with a significant decrease in the horse population, there has been a significant decline in the number of horses being slaughtered and it is now fewer than 2,000 a year. Of course, that is still significant and just because it is smaller, I am not saying it is insignificant. In an ideal world, it should be possible to slaughter horses in humane conditions.

Again, I know the Deputy will say I am splitting hairs with regard to what was happening within the slaughter plant. I have been there myself and I saw the horses being killed. It was being done in a very competent manner by people who knew what they were doing. I had no idea what had happened the day before 100 yd. or 200 yd. away but within the plant, to be fair to the workers who were doing the job, things were being done very well - as well as is in any other slaughter plant in the country. It is important to make that point.

A plant being shut down has unintended consequences.