Knackeries around the country are set to halt collection services for fallen animals from tomorrow, Wednesday, February 26, over the “financial viability” of the practice.
Acting Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, is being called on to engage with the Animal Collectors’ Association (ACA) to reach a last-minute agreement to avert the strikes.
Charlie McConalogue, Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on agriculture, food and the marine, warned that the presence of dead animals on farms poses a “public health” risk.
The current impasse is extremely disappointing and frustrating. The acting minister for agriculture and officials in his department need to engage with the ACA representatives to reach an agreement which will avoid tomorrow’s strike action.
“If a farmer has an animal who has died, as of tomorrow there will be no service available to have fallen animals collected. The farmer cannot bury the animal, so it effectively has to stay on the farm until it can be disposed of properly,” McConalogue said.
“Ordinarily, these services would be provided by knackeries. This may become a serious public health matter,” the Donegal TD highlighted.
McConalogue continued: “Most knackeries are family-run businesses. More strenuous regulations have made their job increasingly difficult. The minister has to consider providing additional supports to ensure the viability of the industry and review the fallen animal scheme, which is causing much hardship for knackery operators.
Knackeries are a key component in the livestock industry, and this hasn’t been acknowledged by the minister. We need the minister and stakeholders to engage in order to resolve this dispute and ensure that there is a sustainable and viable knackery service for livestock farmers across the country.
The decision by the ACA to halt animal collection from tomorrow was announced last week, Thursday, February 20. It came following a unanimous decision by the ACA members at the group’s emergency meeting the previous Sunday, February 16.
The members balloted for the cessation of fallen animal collections from tomorrow “as it is not financially viable to continue this service”.
“We understand that farmers are under severe time pressure at this time of the year and we do not want to inflict any further hardship on them,” the group said in a statement.