IT was a difficult week for Department of Agriculture officials, as the fall out from the RTÉ Investigates programme continued to dominate the news cycle and public forums.

Deputy chief veterinary officer Michael Sheahan faced tough questioning from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, when the main topics of the RTÉ programme – alleged welfare abuse at Shannonside Foods Ltd and alleged criminal behaviour surrounding the identity of animals and traceability for the food chain – dominated the agenda of the session.

The abattoir in Straffan has been shut by the Department, while they carry out investigations and liaise with their European counterparts on apparent ‘loopholes’ in the central traceability databases, and with that comes another possible problem.

It means Ireland currently has no abattoir for horses. While that solves the alleged mistreatment of animals at the plant, it may well result in horses of little value being abandoned by owners, who are not prepared to pay for their disposal, or horses being exported far away. We need a humane end of life option for horses in Ireland and that should be to the forefront of the Department’s mind as this investigation lingers on. As the deputy chief vet said on Wednesday, the buck stops with the Department of Agriculture.

Equine is on the Government agenda again next week, as Horse Sport Ireland will appear alongside Horse Racing Ireland in front of the joint committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to answer questions on the welfare and treatment of horses and their traceability. We will bring you coverage from that session in next week’s paper.