Results 201-220 of 2,254 for speaker:Paul Daly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I say this with the greatest of respect and, for legal reasons, I will not mention any of the people who are involved. I am as straight a man as you would meet on a day’s walk, but if an opportunity like that was afforded to me and if it was going to be so easy to fill out paperwork after the deed is done, it would be very tempting in any walk of life. If you leave loopholes, people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I am conscious that my time is up but I am also conscious that TDs are not back. Can I do my second round now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I will go back to what I was asking about the information that came to the Department via HRI and what action was taken in response the irregularities. I think our guests said that the issue was highlighted most in the Netherlands. What action, if any, was taken by the Department on the basis on that information?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I am talking about 2022.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Would it surprise Mr. Sheahan to hear that a person allegedly provided that information and got no satisfaction? Due to the inaction, that person's next port of call was RTÉ.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: A stitch in time saves nine. This whole fiasco could have been avoided, apparently and allegedly. As I say, we get information and cannot verify the sources at times. However, that is allegedly the case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: If action had been taken, RTÉ would never have been approached to pursue this investigation. Unfortunately, Mr. Sheahan, that brings me back to the Department's doorstep.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: What plans are there to open an acceptably monitored slaughter plant? One is necessary to ensure that appropriate end-of-life facilities are available. We are going to have another problem. If it is so easy to export horses, there is now a bigger necessity within that circle. How soon can we have an acceptable, well-managed and well-monitored abattoir up and running? It is a necessity...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: For one to be legally operational in the future, I assume it will be put through the wringer by the Department before it gets the green light. How long is that process going to take? With every passing day and week, we are creating problems elsewhere because, as I said, it is a part of the whole cycle and it is a necessity. I assume that if I wanted to open one in the morning, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Yes, Mr. Sheahan did say that earlier but how long is the process going to take?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Does the Department see the urgency here? Does it see the need for one?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I am not getting the impression of any urgency.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Where I am coming from, and what I am trying to get at, is that three or four weeks ago, before the Department got the tip-off from RTÉ and the programme was broadcast, it was quite happy that there were approximately 65 horses per week being killed in this particular abattoir and that was the number of horses that needed to be killed in that abattoir every week for the natural cycle to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Where does Mr. Sheahan think those horses are going now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Mr. Sheahan said the Department had four inquiries. Is it pursuing them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: Is the Department actively pursuing them? This is serious. There is another scandal waiting to happen and we are going to cause it if we do not have something in place sooner rather than later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: I am not asking for that but I am asking that it be treated with a bit of urgency.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: It is a fantastic system. If I have a horse in training at the moment, my trainer's yard is inspected by the IHRB to ensure the facilities are top-class. When the horse goes to the track, they use CCTV and the facilities at the tracks have been improving on an ongoing basis, funded and grant aided by the Department. That horse is wrapped up in cotton wool until the day it figuratively goes...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Paul Daly: To go back to the question - I know the Chair has to suspend the meeting, but if I can just finish this I will be finished - how was it, as it came across in the programme, that it was so easy for the owner of a horse that had a passport here to almost bin it and get that book in the North and for the horse to travel again with an almost new identity or new lease of life?