Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 October 2017
40. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the costs incurred by his Department over the past four years in the seizure of animals, specifically horses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33110/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI did not bring any script in case the Minister becomes confused or mixes up his own pages. What is going on regarding animal cruelty?
I wish to know about the money the Minister's Department, and not the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment or any other Department, has spent in the past four years regarding the seizure, impounding and hosting of animals, especially horses, that are neglected and abandoned, and in some cases totally mistreated and left seriously injured. A motion will come before the House this evening and it is very appropriate the question is being answered now.
The Control of Horses Act 1996 provides powers to local authorities to deal with stray and abandoned horses. To date, my Department has provided funding of €4.3 million to local authorities for horse seizures for the period from 2014 to 2017. Local authorities are asked to make every effort to recover all costs associated with horse seizures and ensure they are achieving the best value through the public procurement process.
The number of horses being seized nationally continues to decline, from 4,923 in 2014 to 2,128 in 2016 and 878 to date in 2017. My Department's contribution to local authorities is reducing year on year, from €2.3 million in 2014, €725,000 in 2016 and €426,000 to date in 2017. This reduced funding demand is reflective of a number of factors, including initiatives being progressed by my Department in the animal welfare area. This includes active enforcement of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 and the EU equine identification regulations, which have resulted in the removal of a number of abandoned, welfare-compromised and unidentified horses throughout the country in the period from 2014 to 2017 at a cost of almost €320,000. Department officials have been directly involved in a number of horse seizures and have initiated prosecutions under the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
The number of horses slaughtered for human consumption continues to increase due to greater compliance with equine identification legislation by the organised horse sector. Almost 33,000 horses have been slaughtered for human consumption in the past five years. Horse exports have increased substantially too in recent years, helping to bring about a much greater balance between supply and demand. In addition, animal welfare charities have been rehoming an increasing number of horses abroad.
The increased emphasis on rehoming of horses is being assisted greatly through my Department's funding to animal welfare organisations. A total of €2.46 million has been paid to 137 organisations to assist their work in animal welfare in 2017. A number of these are actively involved in rescuing and rehoming neglected horses. My Department also provides funding to local authorities to support the development of urban and Traveller horse projects in their respective areas.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
To date, funding of €866,273 has been drawn down across several local authorities, including a contribution of €500,000 to South Dublin County Council for the Clondalkin Equine Club, the opening of which I officiated at earlier this year, and funding for Kildare, Kilkenny, Longford, and Leitrim projects. These projects focus on education and create awareness of compliance with animal welfare regulations, thereby reducing numbers of straying horses. My Department continues to stress that it is the responsibility of individuals to ensure the welfare of horses in their ownership and-or their care and to dispose of them appropriately. My officials continue to work closely with local authorities and animal welfare organisations in dealing with the issues which necessitate seizure of horses.
In August, I asked the Minister and the Department to consider introducing more effective penalties to deal with the mistreatment and abandonment of horses. I spoke after the Minister told me in a reply to a parliamentary question that the Department had spent €4.5 million. Today, the Minister has said it is €4.3 million so €200,000 is missing. This is with regard to the seizure and control of horses in the three year period from 2014 to 2017. I do not know why the Minister cannot keep the figures the same as he told me the last day. Local authorities have been engaged from 2008 to 2016. It is farcical. We have a very proud equine record in Tipperary, as the Minister knows and I am sure he often has a flutter. We have very prominent racing horses. We have to deal with this issue. It is an underbelly and it is happening.
I am aware of a very serious situation at present, and I asked the Minister a question about it back in August. It is with regard to a horse who was totally mistreated. This horse had travelled the world to England and America and back again. It fell into criminal hands. It was then abandoned in a boghole in Littleton and taken away by animal rescue people. It has been treated but is not yet back to full health. The Department told people where the horse was and is insisting it be handed back to the same people it came from. Where is the tagging? Where is the traceability? We have to have it in all aspects of farming. Why can we not have it for these horses and these people?
On the individual case, the Deputy is aware we have engaged in considerable correspondence with him on that individual matter. Whether in the area of equine matters, puppy farms or conventional farming of cattle, sheep or pigs, the Department has a commitment to the highest levels of animal welfare, and that reflects what society would want. For this reason, in 2013 we considerably updated the legal framework within which the Department is able to prosecute people who breach those standards. It is an appalling sight to see, particularly for people who come from an agricultural background who are the first to be offended by signs of animal cruelty. Concern about animal cruelty is not something that is the preserve of any particular sector in society. Farmers are the most committed to the highest standards of animal welfare. The horse has a particularly strong position in Irish society. The Deputy made reference to Tipperary, the home of the thoroughbred racing industry.
And hurling.
Nobody wants to see any diminution of our standards. We have the legal framework now. We are prosecuting more people now. We are working with more voluntary bodies now and delivering funding in all of those areas to address this issue. I am satisfied that while there will always be an individual case which will make the headlines, we are doing everything possible and financial resources are not the constraining factor.
I do not accept the Minister's answer good nor bad. Farmers as we all know are excellent at animal husbandry and they are caring, and they are penalised severely with traceability and everything else. We have seen sulkies driven by horses that tumble upside down on the road and the horses are left there for dead and dying. It happened in Cashel this year, it happened at Horse and Jockey last year and it continues to happen. A blind eye is being turned here because in this case, this particular horse travelled the world and was exploited for money, and when it was no more good it was left in a boghole where it lost its foal and nearly died. Now, the Department is part of a prosecution and wants the person in the sanctuary, who is very sick and traumatised because the criminal gang who had the horse know where the horse is, to hand it back with no fines or penalties. A blind eye is being turned by many agencies to what is happening in this area.
Not a week goes by when I do not get an email or contact about sulkies and the abuse of horses on the roads. Some people are exempt but farmers are not. They must be traceable and rightly so. We must be traceable and proper about all animal husbandry and they are, as the Minister said himself, but there is an element out there who can do what they like with their horses, including mistreating and abusing them, and then abuse the people who try to bring them back to health and mind them, who are animal loving people who get no support from local authorities. The animal welfare places get little bits of grants every Christmas.
The Deputy's time is way over.
I know it is, but we need to wake up here and see we must have fair play for everybody who treats an animal and everybody who mistreats an animal.
There is nobody beyond the law in the context of animal welfare issues, be they sulky racers or anybody else.
That is not true.
I can assure the Deputy there is nobody beyond the law.
I know differently.
On the issue of what is the most appropriate way to deal with the issue of sulky racing, I have been on the old Cork to Dublin road going through Limerick-----
Yes, that is what I am talking about.
I have come across sulky races and their entourage hogging the main thoroughfare. It is quite a sight to behold and a dangerous one. Local authorities have an issue in terms of by laws and a role to play. Anybody who is found guilty or is suspected of the maltreatment of animals, be they horses in sulky racing, will not find a hiding place in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and I can assure the Deputy of that.
They are and they have.
They are not.
