Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this important topic. There is EU and national legislation in place to protect the welfare of pigs. It sets out detailed requirements for pigs, including, for example, requirements for minimum space, feeding and watering of pigs, environmental enrichment, lighting and noise levels. Regarding sow stalls and farrowing crates, the legislation allows for sows and gilts to be confined in stalls and crates for a defined period and currently both are used on most Irish pig farms for management purposes. My Department has implemented specific actions to help reduce the need for routine tail docking of pigs. These include the delivery of a free animal welfare risk assessment tool for commercial pig farms in collaboration with Animal Health Ireland and Teagasc.

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The tool enables farmers to work with their vet to identify their risk factors for tail-biting and to develop an action plan to deal with those risks. More than 1,300 assessments have been carried out across 400 pig farms to date. My Department also carries out risk-based inspections on a number of pig farms each year to check compliance with the legislation. Tooth reduction in piglets is currently necessary to prevent injuries to the teats of sows and to other piglets when they suckle. However, the castration of pigs is not routinely carried out in Ireland.

Under the farm to fork strategy, the European Commission committed to revising the EU animal welfare legislation, including the pig welfare directive. The Commission has also indicated that a phasing out of the use of cages for animals, including sow stalls and crates, is being considered. It is important that any new welfare legislation is based on science, with reasonable transition periods and supports given to farmers. I will continue to closely monitor developments at EU level.

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