Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Department's contribution towards the rendering of animals and the very high percentage we pay the animal collectors for covering the rendering costs apply to rendering costs in the North as well. Obviously, it does not address transport. There has been an accumulation of more animals in some cases so the option is there for larger loads to go to the North but we are in an emergency and I hope to see this issue resolved in the near future.

The Deputy is right. I have dug many a hole to bury large animals in the past. It is not an easy job. There are more small diggers in the countryside than there were in the past but it is a real inconvenience. There is an emergency - we are doing something we would rather not be doing - and we need to provide farmers with solutions. It is not possible to put schemes in place in the very short term. I hope we will not need to do this tomorrow and I certainly hope we will not need to do this next week or the week after, but it is an option in an emergency where somebody has the capacity to find an alternative.

In response to Deputy McNamara's point, there are three renderers in the country. I would like to see more. All three are not accepting at the moment. There were many animal collectors in the country at one time - 30 or 40 - but they all stopped collecting a couple of years ago.

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