Abuse of horses ‘shocked’ by vet took place in ‘neighbouring shed’ of department-supervised slaughterhouse, committee hears

Representatives from Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Sport Ireland and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine appeared before the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about the well- be animal and traceability.

Their appearance comes after an RTÉ Investigates documentary revealed serious horse abuse at a stable used by Shannonside Foods in Straffan, Co, Kildare.

The matter is now being investigated by gardaí and the Department of Agriculture.

During the committee hearing, Deputy Chief Veterinarian Michael Sheahan said he would not have believed the abuse was taking place, but said the shed where the abuse occurred was in “the neighboring hangar” of the slaughterhouse under the supervision of the department.

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

Committee chairman Jackie Cahill of Fianna Fáil said the committee blamed the department for what happened.

“We are extremely disappointed with what happened,” said Congressman Cahill.

“We place the blame on the ministry because this client was under the supervision of the ministry and the work was not done properly.”

However, in response to questions put to him, Mr. Sheahan made it clear that the abuse did not take place within the premises of the establishment, under the supervision of the ministry.

“The images that were shown do not show the factory shed, but a separate shed next to it,” he said.

“I know people will say that this is splitting hairs, but there is a real stable within the factory, the same as in all the other beef or sheep slaughterhouses, where the horses enter the day of slaughter, which we supervise. .”

Asked by Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane whether the abuse of the animals would have been apparent during the ante-mortem inspection at the abattoir, Mr Sheahan said it was unlikely it would have been spotted.

“Even if the violence, to use that term, that we’ve seen inflicted on horses with pipes, sticks or whatever, even if it was horrific, it probably wouldn’t be enough to cause damage that would be visible on the horse in the ante mortem inspection,” Mr Sheahan said.

Mr Sheahan said although five complaints had been received about 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 .