Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue must urgently intervene in the fallen animals collection dispute, the Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture has said.
Deputy Claire Kerrane said that the ongoing row between knackeries and rendering plants has resulted in delays around the collection of fallen animals from farms.
Agriland understands that rendering plants in the Republic of Ireland stopped accepting material from knackeries for rendering since December 4.
It is claimed that this is due to the knackeries’ inability to pay the cost of rendering, which increased a number of months ago.
Dispute
Deputy Kerrane said that she has been getting calls from farmers who have been impacted by the dispute.
“I have been contacted by farmers who either have had difficulty getting animals collected, or who are concerned about the serious and safety risk of leaving fallen animals on their farmyards.
“This is something that, in normal times, the department [of agriculture] would not take kindly to, and rightly so,” the Roscommon–Galway TD said.
“While I understand the dispute between knackeries and rendering plants is complex, the minister has stood back and allowed the situation to escalate to such a degree that farmers are being directly impacted as a consequence.
“It is unacceptable that farmers cannot currently rely on a collection service for fallen animals, and if it were the other way around the department would not tolerate such delays from farmers in having collections carried out,” she added.
Kerrane has written to Minister McConalogue to urge him to intervene and to outline what measures he and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) are taking to address the matter.
Crisis
Meanwhile, Fine Gael Senators Tim Lombard and John Cummins said the “quarrel” between knackeries and rendering plants has reached “crisis point”.
“Everyday this dispute is allowed to continue sees the number of fallen animals increase on farms across the country. It’s unacceptable and can’t continue.
“Knackeries are effectively closed because of this dispute. There is nowhere to take fallen animals and we have farmers who are left with dead animals,” Senator Lombard, who is a dairy farmer, said.
Senator John Cummins from Co. Waterford, added that “this is a problem that will not resolve itself”.
“The minister needs to get all stakeholders in the one room and hammer out a workable solution.
“I have been contacted by a number of farmers in Waterford who have fallen animals on their farms with no way of removing them due to the dispute which is now ongoing now.
“This is causing huge distress for farmers. To lose an animal is hard enough but to have to endure a decomposing animal on your farm is simply unacceptable,” he said.
“If a resolution cannot be reached immediately, I would be calling for the department to issue burial licences to farmers who through no fault of their own have found themselves with a fallen animal on their farm.
“Anything less will just prolong the distress which many farmers across the country are currently enduring,” Senator Cummins said.