Mr. Michael Sheahan:

Last year, there were just under 2,000 horses slaughtered. We only have one slaughter plant since around 2016 and it has been killing about 2,000 horses a year or a bit less than that. In the past, we have had as many as four horse slaughter plants, even in my time over the past ten to 15 years. At its peak when the number of horses in the country was far bigger, we slaughtered as many as 24,000 horses a year. Because there are generally far fewer horses in the country now than there were ten to 15 years ago, the number of horses being slaughtered is significantly less than what it was.