Some members of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry on Protection of Animals During Transport are “ideologically opposed to the transport of animals”, according to one Irish member of the committee.
Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher was speaking after a meeting of that committee today (Thursday, February 25), in which it was suggested that a time limit on the movement of animals should be implemented.
“To suggest that maximum journey times for live exports is the silver bullet in disingenuous,” the Fianna Fáil MEP said.
Sadly, there are some committee members who are simply ideologically opposed to the transport of live animals. That is their prerogative, but it is a position that fundamentally does not stand up to scientific scrutiny.
The committee meeting was addressed by (among others) Rob Doyle, the official overseeing live animal transport at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
“I was struck by what Doyle said in his contribution this morning, that the real question is about data and not distance,” Kelleher said.
He added: “Too many members of this committee…believe that arbitrarily implementing an eight-hour maximum travel limit would solve all the issues. It simply will not.
The real issue is a lack of data.
Kelleher welcomed an upcoming Teagasc-led study, titled ‘Moove‘, which will focus on gathering the scientific data on how animals fare while in transit.
“It is this data that will allow for an objective assessment of what we need to do in the future,” Kelleher argued.
He went on to stress that Ireland is “ahead of the curve on this issue”.
We export healthy animals. We adhere to EU rules and in many instances, Ireland has implemented its own requirements that exceed the current EU rules.
“It was noteworthy today that many speakers complimented Ireland on its track record. While this is important, we cannot rest on our laurels. We must continue to seek the highest possible animal transport standards, and let the data speak for itself,” Kelleher concluded.