Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us extra time. I really appreciate it. When I spoke a few minutes ago, I outlined many unanswered questions. The least we owe to Mr. Brennan is to carry out a review of this case. His veterinary surgeon, Tom Slevin, did 35 post-mortems and 11 showed results he had never seen before. The bones of the animals were soft and could be cut with a knife and new bones were forming in the arteries and kidneys of the animals. He wrote to the Department to request that a pathologist from the UK be invited to review the case. Three pathologists in the UK were sourced but the Department refused to allow it. That alone shows that we need an independent review of what happened here.

Cadmium is a poisonous heavy metal and was found in eave chutes on the farm in 2004 by representatives from Teagasc's Moorepark centre. Dan Brennan was told that his cattle had symptoms of cadmium poisoning. Why was this ignored? When UCD took over the investigation, the Department instructed the university what to test for and omitted cadmium. It was the veterinary surgeon, Jim Crilly, who noted this and who, in 2007, asked for it to be added back onto the testing list. High levels of cadmium were found in the blood. Cattle lost weight and 95% of the symptoms of cadmium poisoning were found. Cows had dental lesions, something caused by fluoride.

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