Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Trade in live animals is a necessary and integral part of the dairy and beef sectors and plays an important part in supporting farm incomes, as a competitive balance in the market for beef animals and as an outlet for dairy calves. Such trade can only be sustainable on the basis of a strong regulatory regime which protects the welfare and the quality of the animals transported.

While the trade in and transport of animals is a private commercial activity it is heavily regulated by European and Irish national law which my department enforces.

I want to be very clear in stating that my Department only permits animals to be transported in compliance with current legislation.

On that very point, the European Commission published the first draft of the new rules on the protection of animals during transport in December - an initiative which Ireland strongly supports but is watching closely to ensure that measures are science based.

The draft rules will be debated by Member States in the EU Council, and three-way discussions will take place between Council, Commission and the European Parliament later in the year until a text is agreed and comes into effect.

One aspect of this legislative proposal that will fall for consideration is that calves that weigh less than 50kg and that are under 5 weeks of age would in future be considered unfit for transport over distances greater than 100 kilometres. (Under the current EU legislation it is permitted for transporters to bring calves to Europe from the age of 14 days.)

I would like to point out that my Department places very significant emphasis on the welfare of animals being transported and, as the regulator in this area, has already introduced several additional measures over recent years to further protect young calves during long distance transport, which go beyond European rules, including

• increased floor space for each animal in lorries,
• more frequent driver training,
• stricter temperature controls,
• a minimum limit of 40kg bodyweight of calves being transported.

Independent data on the health and welfare of Irish calves in Dutch production systems demonstrate that they have significantly lower mortality and lower antibiotic usage than calves from much closer to the Netherlands, including Dutch and German origin calves, indicating that their health and welfare is ensured during transport.

The Department, in conjunction with Teagasc, is carrying out on-going research exploring ways that could further support welfare during transport.