Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I wish the Minister of State at the Department of agriculture, our colleague Senator Pippa Hackett, well as she is leading a five-day food trade mission to Thailand and Vietnam in co-operation with Bord Bia, which is very important, but it raises the issue of access to markets with regard to meat. In this case it is Thailand and Vietnam and the meat is more likely to be pork. The reality is we have issues with our meat sector. We have a very proud, strong and long tradition in the agriculture and food sector of Bord Bia marketing our food. I am very conscious that as the Minister of State is going out and representing this country and its meat and agricultural sector on a trade mission, we need to look again and have a debate about how we can finish off meat and its production here. Live exports of cattle are contentious and I am going to touch on that in a moment in reference to “Prime Time Investigates”. We are losing a lot of work and economic activity in the processing of meat on the shores of Ireland. That is a missed opportunity. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Hackett well. It is a five-day trip to Thailand and Vietnam and it is primarily about food, specifically meat.

Last night, many Members will have watched “Prime Time Investigates” and I wish to salute, thank and congratulate the "Prime Time Investigates” team that carried out this special report "Live Exports - On The Hoof". I do not know whether any Member watched it but it was an horrific programme. It exposed footage of Irish calves being offloaded with most of them going to Israel. It is very interesting that in the agri-journals this morning, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA, chief is quoted as being shocked and appalled by what is going on. It is important that a member of one of our leading farm organisations is talking about this and I wish to acknowledge that.

We have discussed many times the need for veterinarians or veterinary technicians - and I believe it should be technicians - to go aboard and travel with these cattle. What we saw last night was a litany of abuse of animal welfare, which should be of major concern. There are animal welfare and regulation enforcement issues. It is clear from the interview and the clippings that I again examined this morning, that there is a lack of enforcement. What are the two asks? There is a role for the European Commission regarding the movement of animals both within Europe and beyond and we have a role here. It was disappointing - and this is not an implicit criticism of any of the three ministers – that Miriam O'Callaghan pointedly said at the end of the programme that she had extended an invitation to each of the three Ministers in the Department of agriculture to appear and for various reasons they were unable to attend. I can understand that. We know for instance that one of them is abroad. However, I will be writing to the Minister - I am not asking the Leader to convey this - stating that we need a statement from the Department of agriculture in response to what was aired on the national airwaves last night on “Prime Time Investigates” before the day is out. That is all I am asking for. I will take it upon myself to write to the Minister this morning as we need a response today from the Department to the inspections.