Minister says RTÉ footage will be 'thoroughly reviewed'
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue said that the footage of mistreatment during live exports shown by RTÉ yesterday (Wednesday, October 9) will be "thoroughly reviewed".
The RTÉ Investigates programme , 'Live Exports: On the Hoof' , showed footage of young stock being exported across Romania and onwards to Israel.
It showed hundreds of young stock being brought off ships, with many covered in dung, and clips of dead animals piled into a mound and left to rot outside.
Animals can be seen showing signs of heat exhaustion and ringworm, and legs can been seen sticking out from transport trucks.
Minister McConalogue spoke about the programme at the official launch of the new sustainability charter published by Meat Industry Ireland (MII) today (Wednesday, October 9).
The minister said that the footage is "not reflective" of the "high standards" of animal welfare demonstrated across the country from farmers, processors and other workers in the supply chain.
"Any incidents of mistreatment are unacceptable. It is department policy to investigate all allegations of illegal behaviour and prepare files for prosecution were appropriate.
"In advance of the show, we had sought footage from RTÉ and it will be thoroughly reviewed once received," Minister McConalogue said.
President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) Denis Drennan featured on the programme.
Drennan said he was "committed" to defending the reputation and standards of Irish farmers and "would never back off" from that position.
The ICMSA said that Drennan's main message arising from the programme was as follows:
"If everyone did their jobs and applied themselves with the same commitment that the farmers did on their farms, then there was absolutely nothing intrinsically wrong with calf exports."
Drennan said that EU regulations governing the movement of calves "must be enforced and applied uniformly".
"Irish farmers cannot be held responsible for the non-application of those regulations in Romania or anywhere else," Drennan said.
“If member states are unable or unwilling to enforce those rules and regulations, then it is clearly up to the EU Commission to step in and address those shortcomings," Drennan added.
The ISPCA said it is "disappointed" with the footage, and that the ongoings during live exports "is damaging to the reputation of the Irish dairy industry".
"The UK has just, in May 2024, introduced a ban on live export of animals: Ireland should follow suit. Other measures are also possible," the ISPCA stated.
"More widespread utilisation of sexed semen would also help, by increasing the proportion of female to male dairy calves.
"This is a change that has been happening: there has been a tripling in the use of sexed semen for AI in the past three years, now making up 20% of all AI events. Further expansion of this would be helpful," the ISPCA added.
