Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also was born and reared on a farm. We had every type of animal one might think of, including cows, pigs, sheep, dogs and hens. Reference has been made tonight to good animal husbandry in 99.9% of farms. Someone referred to mental health issues, and it is possible that on an odd occasion there is cruelty because of different pressures. I have great respect for Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, but I cannot agree with the thrust of this Bill. I have the height of respect for farmers and how they try to do their business, and also for the Minister and his staff.

I again raise the issue of a particular cohort of people and a reply I received from the Minister concerning horses. Tipperary, and indeed Ireland, has a very proud equine industry. I was speaking to the Minister, who confirmed in a parliamentary reply to me that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine had given authorities €4.5 million to deal with the seizure and control of horses in the three year period from 2014 to 2017. It is staggering to see the industrial scale removal, seizure and humane killing of horses that local authorities have been engaged in. During that period, just under 25,000 horses were seized, with 16,971 of them subsequently being euthanised. What is going on? Why are this cohort of people exempt from all the rules? Why are the people present for this motion not concerned about that? It is not farmers doing this. These horses are being raised for sulky racing and everything else, and left for dead on the road, causing health and safety issues for the public.

I know of a case of a horse which lost its foal and which was taken out of Littleton bog and brought to a refuge where it is still being nursed back to health. However, the refuge has now been ordered to give it back to the person who owns it. This is a criminal gang that brought the horse all over the world, from Ireland to England to America and back again. That is the kind of support the volunteers in the animal refuge are getting, with a paltry amount of money from the Department.

I support coursing and the Clonmel coursing festival 100%. The coursing clubs do wonderful work in the habitats to keep up the stocks of healthy hares. People come to protest, cut the wires and let them out of the refuge to be slaughtered by trucks. That speaks for itself. The people who claim they are from animal welfare groups put broken glass on the greyhound tracks to rip up the greyhounds' paws. Is that animal welfare? These people get freedom to speak but a group of women hurt by abortion were not even allowed to speak in hotels around here last week as a result of the actions of protesters. We have very funny thinking about freedom of speech and who we look after and who we do not.

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