Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kerrane for raising this important issue. I and my Department condemn the cruelty we witnessed in the programme last night. I share the Deputy’s sentiments on that. We in the Department take any such breaches of our strict animal welfare guidelines very seriously and wish people who have any information around them to share it with us. We have requested from RTÉ the videos and will pursue those matters. It is incumbent on all of us. I agree with the Deputy that this is not common practice. Farmers and people who work with animals care deeply for them. This bad practice is an abhorrence to all of us and we will pursue it with all the rigours of the law.

See this speech in context