Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy about the scenes we saw on "RTÉ Investigates" on Monday night. They were absolutely unacceptable and totally intolerable. I have launched an investigation and it will be robustly followed up. We cannot have any corner of our agrifood sector in which those types of practices happen. They are certainly not representative of what happens on farms across the country or in our food sector. However, they happened. They cannot be allowed to happen and we are investigating that.

There are lots of advertisements on television with happy families, but that is not to say every family in our country is happy or that people always respect one another. Otherwise we would not need the Garda or Tusla. It is likewise with the rules and regulations we have on the treatment and welfare of our animals. We have very robust regulations in place to ensure animals are treated with respect and have good welfare, but it does not mean people cannot abuse animals and not follow those laws. We take an exceptionally hard line on any mistreatment that happens there. That will certainly be the case with respect to what was shown in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme.

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