Department was unaware of staff facing prosecutions at time of inspection of horse abattoir

At a recent hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, the department’s deputy chief veterinarian Michael Sheahan said that his impression prior to the story breaking had been that 'standards were very good within this slaughter plant', despite the fact the director of Shannonside John Joe Fitzpatrick had previously been convicted of cruelty to horses in 2012. File picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

The Department of Agriculture has been criticised after it emerged a number of current prosecutions will shortly be heard against people connected to the company which formerly operated Ireland’s only horse abattoir.

Shannonside Foods, which operated the abattoir at Straffan in Co Kildare which has since had its licence suspended, has been the subject of heightened scrutiny for several weeks after RTÉ Investigates detailed alleged animal cruelty at the plant.

At a recent hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, the department’s deputy chief veterinarian Michael Sheahan said that his impression prior to the story breaking had been that “standards were very good within this slaughter plant”, despite the fact the director of Shannonside John Joe Fitzpatrick had previously been convicted of cruelty to horses in 2012.

However, it emerged at Thursday’s meeting of the PAC with the Department of Agriculture that several live prosecutions involving individuals connected to Shannonside are in train and have progressed to the extent that “prosecution cases will shortly be heard before the courts”.

In a series of parliamentary question replies to Sinn Féin TD Reada Cronin, the department acknowledged those investigations — which have been instigated both by the department itself and An Garda Síochána — but said it would “not be appropriate to comment any further”.

It’s understood those prosecutions relate to allegations surrounding the forging of details within horse passports, amongst others. The alleged re-identification of horses at the Shannonside plant had been one of the key practices detailed within the RTÉ report.

Asked at the PAC on Thursday how his department had been able to say it was unaware of any matters of concern in Straffan despite the existence of both historic and current prosecutions against people involved with the business, secretary general for agriculture Brendan Gleeson said that from the point of view of supervision of the abattoir “we were satisfied that things seemed reasonably ok”.

He insisted that Ireland has been in full compliance with EU animal welfare standards, and that the practices exposed within the RTÉ report show that the larger issue potentially lies with European standards as a whole.

He acknowledged that the horses which had been present at Straffan remain under the supervision of Shannonside at an alternate location, but said that situation cannot be avoided as the department must follow “a step-by-step process” in investigating the revelations.