Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are other countries that are not doing that. This is a policy choice. We have decided to ensure Ireland acts as an international benchmark in prioritising welfare standards. We will ensure the standards in this industry are as high as the standards in any other country, if not higher. We will do that through a code of practice and a licensing system. That is the approach we have decided to take. There are recommendations and European standards relating to how animals should be killed. It is important to emphasise that there is no farming system that does not involve some pain when animals are slaughtered at the end of their lifetimes. I do not know whether the Deputy has ever visited a slaughterhouse at which poultry, pigs, sheep or cattle are killed. This is part of farming. We need to apply standards that ensure the suffering of these animals is minimised at the time of death, just as we have done in the case of other farmed animals. We will try to do that through the code of conduct on how animals are killed at the end of their lifetimes.

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