Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

They were from members of the public. We went out and checked. I have seen the welfare reports from those complaints and nothing was found that was of a nature that would require the seizure of the horses at those times.

Second, I have reflected on the process for approving the plant because there are obvious legitimate questions about the history of the owners of the plant. I have examined the file and it seems that, at the time of the application, the focus of the examination was on the suitability of the premises from a slaughter point of view, to include hygiene issues, physical infrastructure and the various quality control systems required.