Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2019
605. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 525 of 3 December 2019, if chickens being conveyed from poultry farms to slaughter houses can be considered within the exemption referred to in the reply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53080/19]
View answerAs outlined in Parliamentary Question No. 525 of 3 December 2019, Ireland applies a number of national exemptions in line with Article 13 of EU Regulation 561/2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport (as amended by EU Regulation 165/2014), one of which relates to the transport of live animals (which would include poultry) from farms to local markets and vice versa, or from markets to local slaughterhouses, within a radius of 100 km. A preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU of 7 February 2019 (Case C-231/18) notes that the term ‘local markets’ in Regulation 561/2006 "must be interpreted as referring neither to the transaction carried out between a livestock wholesaler and a farmer nor to the livestock wholesaler himself, so that the exception provided for in that provision cannot be extended to include vehicles transporting live animals directly from farms to local slaughterhouses."
This exception applies specifically to Articles 5 to 9 of the Regulation, covering driving times. In applying this exception, the objectives of Article 1 of the Regulation must not be prejudiced, namely working conditions and road safety. Working time rules continue to apply even when these limited exceptions are being availed of.
As previously indicated, the enforcement of tachograph and the EU drivers’ hours rules is the responsibility of the Enforcement Unit of the Road Safety Authority and information on these matters is available on the RSA website at https://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Professional-Drivers/Driving-Safely/.
