Vet ‘shocked’ horse abuse took place in ‘shed next door’ to department supervised abattoir, committee hears

On Wednesday, representatives from Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Sport Ireland and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine came before the Committee on Agriculture to answer questions on animal welfare and traceability.

Their appearance comes after an RTÉ Investigates documentary uncovered severe abuse of horses at a lairage used by Shannonside Foods in Straffan, Co, Kildare.

The matter is now the subject of an investigation by gardaí and the Department of Agriculture.

During the committee hearing, deputy chief veterinary officer Michael Sheahan said he would not have believed the abuse was taking place but said the lairage where the abuse happened was in “the shed next door” to the abattoir under the department’s supervision.

“If I hadn’t seen the footage that we saw last week, I wouldn’t have believed that what was happening in that shed next door was happening,” Mr Sheahan said.

The chair of the committee, Fianna Fáil’s Jackie Cahill, said the committee blamed the Department for what happened.

“We’re extremely disappointed with what has happened,” Deputy Cahill said.

“We’re laying the blame at the department’s door because this client was under the supervision of the department and the job was not done correctly.”

However, in response to questions put to him, Mr Sheahan sought to clarify that the abuse did not take place in the lairage under the supervision of the department.

“The footage that was shown is not it’s not the lairage of the plant, it’s a separate shed beside it,” he said.

“I know people will say that’s splitting hairs but there is an actual lairage within the plant, the same as there is in every other beef slaughter plant or sheep slaughter plant, where the horses come into on the day of slaughter, that we do supervise.”

When asked by Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane if the violence inflicted on the animals would have been apparent during the antemortem inspection that took place in the abattoir, Mr Sheahan said it was unlikely that it would have been spotted.

“Even though the violence, to use that word, that we saw inflicted on the horses with pipes and sticks or whatever, even though it was horrendous, it probably wouldn’t be enough to actually, cause damage, that would be visible on the on the horse at antemortem inspection,” Mr Sheahan said.

Mr Sheahan said while five complaints were received in relation to the farm next door to the abattoir, he understood there were no horses in the shed where the abuse took place, when inspections were carried out.