A meeting has been arranged between the Animal Collectors association (ACA), the representative group for Irish knackeries, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in a bid to resolve the current dispute.
The department made contact with the association and has arranged a meeting for Monday, September 16.
“We are more than willing to attend any meeting that will address our issues,” a spokesperson for the ACA said.
In the absence of any meaningful commitment on our issues, knackery gates will remain closed.
The closure of almost 40 knackeries was announced on Tuesday, September 10, following a collapse in talks between the ACA and the department, with the collectors’ association highlighting that as things stand it is not viable for knackeries to remain open.
3,000 dead animals ‘left in fields’
Yesterday, Friday, September 13, it emerged that 3,000 dead cattle are left in fields and yards that have not been disposed of due to the knackeries dispute.
The ACA said that these fallen animals include “approximately 750 high-risk bovines which should have been TSE [transmissible spongiform encephalopathy] tested by the Department of Agriculture”.
“It is regrettable that the food and agri-industry is now being left at risk over this dispute, and Ireland’s very strong reputation could be tarnished. Department of Agriculture officials need to take this matter very seriously,” the ACA statement concluded.