Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Ireland's agricultural industry is an environmental laggard. Agriculture here and in the EU is based on a capitalist economic model of industrial-scale farming that is hugely unsustainable, produces environmental destruction and fails to provide sustainable and secure incomes for small and medium farmers in Ireland and globally into the future. CAP is part of that unsustainable global system of agriculture. It is a policy that intensifies unsustainability and deepens the crisis.

Environmentally, agriculture is responsible for 10% of the EU's GHG emissions while it is responsible for 37.8% of Ireland's GHG emissions, making it the single biggest polluting sector in the State. There are many factors for this, one being the disproportionately large dependence on dairy and no steps are being taken to really address this. In 2024, changes to CAP pulled back on even modest environmental conditionalities. There is no real link-in with the EU so-called Green New Deal. There is no obligation on member states to bring in provisions. This amounts to a massive greenwashing.

We need a dairy reduction scheme and incentives to empower farmers to transition from animal to vegetable agriculture to reduce intensive monocultural farming and act as stewards of the land. There is a biodiversity crisis and CAP does not do enough to deal with it. The budget for Ireland's CAP strategic plan is €9.8 billion and an estimated 2.5% of that will result in effective action for biodiversity, a tiny fraction.

Security for small farmers is not delivered either by CAP. A thousand a day are leaving the sector across the EU. Small farmers are ripped off in the supply chains by retailers and profits are going to the food industry and the retail sector. There is a drive towards destructive industrial farming and it does not do anything for the small farmer.

CAP is not subject to ecology ambitions of the Green Deal and it is already too little too late. The European Union is extremely dependent, structurally, on imports of food and animal feed from third countries whose production systems are unsustainable and, in some cases, use slave labour. At the same time, the EU subsidises exports to developing countries with the effect of destabilising markets and food insecurity.

I want to deal with some of the changes to CAP that have pulled back on environmental conditionalities and animal welfare improvement. Biodiversity is not a key issue for CAP. The improvements are not significant regarding animal welfare. CAP simplifies measures served to roll back on the limited animal welfare provisions. I want to highlight an example of some of the animal abuse taking place in our industry that has been exposed, in particular, by a report by NARA.

One of the sectors is the pig industry. There are approximately 270 commercial pig farms in the pig industry in Ireland. Annually, they produce an average of 3.5 million pigs that are slaughtered here every year. We have practices that are banned in other parts of the EU, such as sow stalls that are permitted in Ireland for up to four weeks of pregnancy. Usually a week before giving birth, the sows are put into farrowing crates where they are kept until their piglets are about four weeks old. The piglets are then taken away from their mother and put into fattening pens, even though they would naturally still be suckling from their mothers until approximately three months old. It is a very cruel practice. Depending on their weight, they are then slaughtered at about five to six months of age. Pigs are stunned using CO2 gas which is not in any way humane, contrary to popular belief.

The majority of pigs in Ireland spend their entire lives indoors with no comfortable bedding, fresh air or sunlight. Currently, it is a legal requirement that pigs are provided with eight hours of artificial light a day. Enrichment - a form of mental stimulation - is also meant to be provided for pigs. This is a legal requirement but it is not reality. According to Teagasc, the most common form of enrichment is a metal chain that hangs down. Tail docking, although banned in the EU, is allowed if it is necessary for a farmer to do so.

I have a report on an investigation the National Animal Rights Association, NARA, did in January 2024. All this information has been passed over to the Minister's Department and I would like him to answer what is going to be done about it. The farms chosen were picked randomly in an effort to give an honest and unbiased insight into what happens in Ireland. Inside, there were awful sheds - as you will see from the videos on their website - where pigs were in sow stalls, farrowing crates and fattening pens, as I said. There were dead and dying pigs left to struggle in gangways, and many pig and piglets were sick and injured. Some were biting the bars of their pens repeatedly, which is stereotypical stress-induced behaviour. Others were fearful and sadness and stress was displayed and undeniable according to a vet who looked into the findings. There was a stench of faeces, urine and decay on many of the farms. There was blatant cruelty and complete absence of any hint of compassion towards these animals. Somebody is going in there every day and seeing this happening.

Welfare codes usually list five basic freedoms for animals, which I am sure the Minister is familiar with: freedom from hunger, discomfort, pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour which is impossible in those conditions and freedom from fear and distress. None of these five freedoms were upheld on these farms.

Following that investigation, an anonymous call was made to the Department of agriculture's animal welfare unit by the people who took part to report what was witnessed on the grounds of animal welfare and biosecurity. All the footage and details of these farms have been handed in to the Department of agriculture. I am hoping this will be acted upon.

Regardless of any prosecutions, it is very clear the pig industry in Ireland should be shut down because it is not adhering to those most basic things. Something like this would need a transition period. Farmers would need to be financially incentivised to move away from pig production. We also need a system where no animal should be in stalls, crates or pens. They should be content and well cared for. If dogs and cats were kept in any of those conditions, there would be a public outcry - no question - but because these are farm animals, it seems to be acceptable. Nobody should want their food produced in this way.

The pig industry is in decline in Ireland and it remains very intensive. There is a smaller number of farms but they are doing it on an industrial scale. We need to see a move away from CAP grants being 80% livestock farming and only 20% tillage to allow farmers to have financial security so that they can move away from animal production and more into tillage, with Teagasc grants as well.

I would appreciate if the Minister could give a commitment to look into the allegations made, which are backed up by a vet, presented at a press conference a couple of months ago in Buswells Hotel and are on NARA's website as well.

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