Paul Murphy calls to ban sow stalls after undercover pig footage

On Tuesday I introduced a bill to ban pig mutilation, sow stalls and farrowing crates, which the EU has already committed to phase out and you are already giving grants to farmers to move away from. The question is whether you will take a lead on this, like the Government did under pressure from campaigners on fur farming, where they moved ahead of the rest of the European Union to ban fur farming. Will you act now to ban the most inhumane practices within the pig industry? I would like to thank Deputy Murphy for raising this important topic. There is EU and national legislation in place to protect the welfare of pigs. It sets out detailed requirements for pigs, including, for example, requirements for minimum space, feeding and watering of pigs, environmental enrichment, lighting and noise levels. Regarding sow stalls and farrowing crates, the legislation allows for sows and gilts to be confined in stalls and crates for a defined period and currently both are used on most Irish pig farms for management purposes. My Department has implemented specific actions to help reduce the need for routine tail docking of pigs. These include the delivery of a free animal welfare risk assessment tool in collaboration with Animal Health Ireland and Chagas for commercial pig farms. The tool enables farmers to work with their vet to identify their risk factors for tail biting and to develop an action plan to deal with those risks. Over 1,300 assessments have been carried out across 400 pig farms to date. My Department also carries out risk-based inspections on a number of pig farms each year to check compliance with the legislation. Tooth reduction in piglets is currently necessary in order to prevent injuries to sow teats and to other piglets when they suckle. However, castration of pigs is not routinely carried out in Ireland. Under the Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Commission committed to revising the EU animal welfare legislation including the Pig Welfare Directive. The Commission has also indicated that a phasing out of the use of cages for animals including sow stalls and crates is being considered. It is important that any new welfare legislation is based on science with reasonable transition periods and supports given to farmers and will continue to closely monitor developments at an EU level. What provoked me to introduce this Bill was undercover investigations carried out by the National Animal Rights Association and Animal Rebellion. They had two separate investigations on six different farms chosen at random and produced video evidence which I watched, I mean just horrendous, like really horrendous. I know the Department has been sent the footage, I don't know if the Minister had a chance to watch it, I would encourage you to. Sick and dying pigs with open wounds and weeping open sores left to suffer and die in filthy conditions. Enrichment, which was just a metal bar, clearly completely starved of any real enrichment. Pigs with their tails painfully docked or cut off right up to the root. It is supposed to be banned but in limited circumstances, but up to 95% of Irish pigs still have their tails docked. The farrowing crates and sow stalls are so narrow that they can't turn around and can't move more than a few centimetres in there for long periods of time to ensure that they never get a moment's break from suckling the 15 piglets that are now regularly born in each litter. The Minister, have you seen the footage and how do you respond to it? I can say very clearly that the Government strongly condemns any cruelty or mistreatment of any animal and it is my Department's policy to investigate all allegations of illegal or criminal behaviour and prepare files where appropriate. We have very robust animal welfare legislation in this country. The welfare of all animals, particularly those in intensively reared systems such as pigs, is a priority for my Department. We have robust legislation in this country to protect the welfare of all animals and in the cases of pigs there is actually sector-specific legislation in place which is based on existing EU rules. While some of the measures you talk about, Deputy, are unpleasant in nature in one way, there are also animal welfare measures there. You know, a large sow rolling over on very young piglets causing their death would not be a positive and that is what the crate around farrowing time allows the avoidance of that happening and that can happen. So, you know, that is why you have to look at animal welfare in the round and all of the measures that are there, similar with the point around piglets' teeth and the impact that that can have on other piglets or on the south-south. Deputy Murphy. Thanks. I mean, pigs are highly intelligent, sociable creatures and clearly in these under-kiver videos, to be clear, these farms were selected at random and all of them demonstrated horrific conditions for the pigs, just in desperate states. Like, dead pigs just lying there, pigs clearly very severely injured, heading towards death, just lying there, pigs trapped in, like, very, very small spaces, these are grim indoor spaces, they never go outside in their whole lives. Three and a half million pigs are in conditions like that in Ireland every single year, three and a half million pigs slaughtered every year in Ireland in a very small number of farms, about 260 pig farms in Ireland. And it is a mixture of a breaking of the existing laws, so you might tell us what is being done about that, but also laws that are inadequate, that allow poor conditions to persist. But every time I raise these sort of issues, or every time there is RTE, he investigates, he is always saying, oh, we are looking into it, but nothing ever really seems to happen in terms of action against these farmers that are guilty of abuse or in terms of improvements of the legislation. So, Deputy, I am going to repeat it again, the Government strongly condemns any cruelty or mistreatment of any animal, we carried out risk-based assessments, we carried out investigations to any allegations of illegal or criminal behaviour and we prepare our files for the DPP appropriately. And that is a strong priority of my department, it is a strong responsibility of my department and something we take very, very seriously, very clear on that. My department recently published an updated specification for new housing under TAMS 3, with requirements including more space, more comfortable flooring, more feeding space and farrowing pens of six and a half metres. Sows can only be kept in a crate for a few days around farrowing and the rest of the time they must be loosened in the pen. Housing constructed in line with this specification will enhance pig welfare and enable farmers to move towards rearing pigs with long tails as well. So, we are working on that in a very clear direction and, as I have said to you, in relation to any criminality or breaking of our strong animal welfare laws, we take a very serious approach to that, as our role is, and we continue to engage at the European level about future direction of policy with regard to the points you raised as well. SEAN NEW SPEAKER 2 ALSO salary A A A A A A A A A A A A A A