Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are six veterinary laboratories throughout the country. They are located in Sligo, Athlone, Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork and Backweston, where, incidentally, €260,000 has been spent on landscaping in the past four years. In 2015, the Sligo laboratory catered for 3,140 post mortems and 26,500 samples were presented for diagnostic testing.

Sixteen people are employed at the facility, which serves seven counties, including Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan, Roscommon and the Taoiseach's home county of Mayo. I understand that officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are meeting the 16 staff in question at the moment. If this facility were to close, it would be poor and very unfair because dead animals would have to be transported hundreds of miles across the country. Such a decision would fly in the face of the rural action plan that was launched on 23 January last. This is the only facility of its kind in the north west.

See this speech in context