A NEW horse abattoir is to be established in Ireland, facilitated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, said his department will “investigate” grant aid to assist in its establishment.
The action plan comes off the back of Professor Patrick Wall’s report titled ‘Reforms to strengthen equine identification, traceability and welfare’, published on Thursday. The report, commissioned by then Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue in the wake of an RTÉ Investigates programme into alleged fraud at Shannonside Foods, shone a damning light on equine traceability in the country.
Shannonside Foods, Ireland’s only licensed equine abattoir, was shut down in June 2024 following the programme, which exposed animal welfare breaches and alleged identity fraud, including microchip tampering. There has been no slaughtering facility for horses in Ireland since.
Well-regulated
In his report, Professor Wall said: “There is a pressing need for a well-regulated horse slaughter facility in Ireland, where horses that are eligible for the food chain, but have no viable function due to age, injury, behavioural issues, or lack of ability, can be humanely processed.
“The facility must be adequately supervised to comply with all relevant regulations, with permanent CCTV coverage of the lairage and kill box areas to provide further accountability. Any assembly points supplying the facility should require approval and regular inspection by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine,” he commented, adding: “Owner confidence in the humane handling of their horses will be crucial to encouraging the use of the proposed equine slaughter facility.”
The report stated that, given the lack of individuals, or entities, currently prepared to establish such a facility, a combination of grant aid for setup and a subvention for operational costs during the initial years could act as an incentive.
Professor Wall said that consideration should also be given to reallocating a small proportion of existing government grants provided to Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Sport Ireland, and equine welfare agencies to support the facility’s running costs. “These organisations could be invited to join an oversight committee to ensure robust governance and transparency.”
He added: “The equine industry relies on public trust and support to maintain its social license to operate, and it must demonstrate its commitment to transparency and accountability.”
Genotyping
The DAFM has also committed to publishing new legislation introducing the mandatory genotyping of all foals. National gene database for equines in Ireland will form the basis of any future DNA sampling programme to verify origin of horses presented for slaughter or export for slaughter.
On publication of the report, Minister Heydon commented: “In my view, the sector as a whole needs to commit to real, measurable change if it is going to ensure it is associated, in the minds of Irish citizens, with feats of speed, skill and athleticism rather than acts of cruelty and carelessness, when those animals on whom the sector is built, outlive their usefulness.”
Key objectives from the report:
In a statement, Horse Sport Ireland welcomed the report and recommendations saying:
“As identified in the report, there remains a significant gap in traceability and reporting of equines to the UK Central database. HSI looks forward to the implementation of a system between DAFM, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland and the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to mitigate these risks.
“Horse Sport Ireland publicly advocated for the introduction of genotyping for all equines registered on breeding and production documents. HSI Ireland initiated the genotyping of horses in 2022, and this has been the status quo in equine passporting for several PIOs in Ireland ever since. This is essential in ensuring equine traceability.
“Horse Sport Ireland has also employed a cloud-based genotyping software system to ensure that these DNA records can be interrogated for traceability purposes. These activities were funded by DAFM under the National Breeding Services scheme.
“Last year, Horse Sport Ireland, under the Brexit Adjustment Fund provided by DAFM, initiated the building of a new e-passport system, akin to what is in operation by the Weatherbys studbook. This new system offers improved access to animal records and compliance with EU equine habituation legislation.
“Horse Sport Ireland has already initiated discussion with the new National Veterinary Prescribing System (NVPS) to facilitate two-way communication between HSI’s Horse Source system and NVPS platforms to enable live updates to animal food chain status.
“HSI has issued 5,530 passports, while a further 97 are being quality checked. About 530 DNA samples are currently with the lab for testing, while about 10% of DNA kits have yet to be returned by breeders.
“There were delays in issuing passports as HSI moved to the new online system, and HSI has previously acknowledged this and apologised to breeders. The waiting times that were experienced for passports had no relevance whatsoever in terms of the fraudulent activity regarding equine identities that were highlighted by the RTÉ programme.”