Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I received an email today saying that the Minister would not be here to take Topical Issues. It is increasingly the case that Ministers do not appear to take Topical Issues. They are answerable to the Dáil and should be present. However, I appreciate that the deputy leader of Fianna Fáil is here to take questions.

I am raising the horrific situation at Shannonside Foods in Straffan in my constituency of Kildare North that was revealed in the “RTÉ Investigates” programme last week. Issues with microchips, the safety of the food chain and the security and reliability of the passport system were raised.

These issues all affect Ireland's international equine reputation, which the Government is so concerned about. Equally, there is the abject failure of the horse racing industry to make sure racehorses get to retire and are put to sleep with decency instead of being sold for a few quid with a few beatings thrown in before they are slaughtered. They are cheered at race meetings and then terrorised for meat. To be very clear, I am not vegan or vegetarian. I am not a hypocrite. I abhor the wanton cruelty that was shown to those animals.

I want to focus on several issues, which are licensing and welfare. When exactly was the operator licensed? This is important because the main operator has an animal cruelty conviction regarding horses from October 2012. To be licensed a person must be without a serious conviction in the previous three years. We need this date. I have a document from the Companies Registration Office stating Shannonside Foods Limited in Straffan was set up on Wednesday, 11 March 2015, a date which seems to be within the three-year conviction window. Was the operator's licence granted at this time or before or after it? I ask for this to be checked please.

Surely the fact of a conviction, regardless of timing, should be a major red flag for the Department. It beggars belief that anyone with an animal welfare conviction should be licensed at all. This three-year timeframe must be changed immediately so that nobody who has a conviction for animal cruelty can ever be licensed to handle or slaughter animals. Will the Minister of State check with the Minister for agriculture as to whether this is something he is looking at?

I attended the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts today and I was shocked at how a Department official seemed quite blasé about welfare and seem to be splitting hairs on the examination of the holding area. It beggars belief that departmental staff or agents never thought about checking how the horses were held pre-slaughter. These are professionals and it never struck them, not once. The Department also told the committee this morning that its veterinarians only saw horses in good condition. Where were the other horses that were slaughtered disposed of? We need to know this.

With regard to ongoing welfare issues, I want to ask about the horses removed from north Kildare. In his reply to Deputy Murphy the Minister of State said the Minister contacted the operator on 14 June. That was last Friday. Amazingly, on Friday afternoon, the day before the Minister closed the operation, the horses were removed from Shannonside Foods in Straffan. This is incredible timing. Was it not very lucky? The Minister must disclose where these horses are, who transported them, whether it was on his say-so and in whose care they are now. On a welfare basis we need to know whether they were transported by the personnel shown on the "RTÉ Investigates" programme. Are they now in their care? I use the word "care" sarcastically. Given what we saw on RTÉ the Minister has clear welfare grounds to seize these horses, wherever they are. I believe they are in Limerick. I ask that the Minister do so immediately. Plenty of good people have contacted me to say they are willing to take them in and the Minister should look into this immediately.

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