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

Last year the figure was four times that at approximately 24,000. There are a number of reasons for that, and people should not necessarily draw the conclusion that the number of horses slaughtered last year, which is different from the number for this year, are horses that should not have been slaughtered. That is not the case. The main reason the number of horses slaughtered this year is dramatically decreased is that we shut down facilities. For a number of months this year there were no facilities to slaughter horses. As a result of that we have a problem because there are many low-value horses for which there is no market that would have found their way, through various different systems in terms of transporting horses or slaughtering of horses, out of the system last year. Now, because we are strictly imposing the rules, as we must, to guarantee we can stand over everything that goes into the food chain we must deal with a by-product of that, which is that there are many unwanted horses, and there is animal welfare concern around that population of horses.

There is also a problem in that EU regulations do not allow horsemeat into the pet food chain, in other words, rendering. We are examining that with the Commission to see whether that may be an outlet for horses. Horse owners who do not have identification for their animals would not have the full costs of getting their horse slaughtered and disposed of through a knackery and so on.

We have an open mind on this issue but I want to state clearly that we should not and will not simply look for a derogation to allow all these horses into the food chain because we have a problem with them. That would send out all sorts of negative messages in terms of Ireland's attitude towards food safety, and we cannot allow that given where we have been this year, but we will examine other solutions that are practical and make sense.

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