Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Some Deputies have said they are not from rural areas but we all eat food so we are all entitled to speak on the topic. Also, the animals which provide the food are everybody's concern. No special privilege is afforded if you are a rural dweller or a farmer. We talk about the food economy but what about the welfare of the animals in that food economy? Nobody wants to eat food that is based on cruelty but that is happening in our agrifood sector.

I want to talk in particular about the pig industry. When I was participating in attempts to ban fur farming, a vet commented to me that the next thing I should focus on was pigs. This person regularly visited farms and was extremely concerned at what they saw.

I will provide a bit of information on the pig industry in Ireland. There are 270 commercial pig farms and 3.5 million pigs slaughtered annually. Ireland still uses sow stalls, despite them being banned in many EU countries and the UK. For people who do not know, there is a gestation crate in which the pregnant sow is placed. Then they are placed in a farrowing crate in the pen just before the birth and kept there for another four weeks. The mother is allowed to move forward slightly but not to turn in any way. There is a creep area where the piglet can reach the teats but that is it. It saves money and space. The piglets are taken away from their mothers well before the weaning time of three months and put in fattening pens. Pigs in Ireland are generally kept indoors and see very little light. They are meant to have enrichment but the only enrichment is often a chain around their necks. Tail docking is banned in the EU but is still widely practised if the farmer feels it is necessary - it is not necessary but it is more economical.

The National Animal Rights Association, NARA, did a study of a number of randomly selected farms in January 2024. They were shocked by what they saw: the sow stalls, farrowing crates and fattening pens, but also dead and dying pigs, pigs biting their bars and pigs living in faeces, urine and decay. They gave the information to the Department of agriculture. I ask the Minister what will become of that information.

If dogs or cats were kept in those conditions, there would be outrage, but because it is farm animals it seems to be okay. The most maligned animal in the world is the pig. They are the most intelligent animals as well. We often talk about pigs in a derogatory fashion. Why is this okay? Pigs are also gassed. They make it look like they are asleep and it is peaceful but it is not. A study done in Australia in 2023 showed pigs writhing, gasping for breath, etc.

How often are pig farms inspected? How many fines have they been given relating to animal welfare? What are we doing to help farmers transition out of these bad practices? We should be for climate and welfare reasons moving away from this industry. We should be moving towards a more plant-based food sector in any case. We need to give farmers ways to transition out of pig farming. It is not a good industry. It should be shut down. For more information, Deputies can check out naracampaigns.org/pigs and see for themselves. This really needs to be acted upon. It is time for this cruelty to end and sow stalls, in particular, to be banned in Ireland.

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