A non-governmental organisation (NGO) that campaigns against animal cruelty has initiated High Court proceedings that relate to unweaned calf transport from Ireland to continental Europe.

Ethical Farming Ireland has lodged a legal challenge against the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the state, in relation to the live transportation of calves.

The NGO has claimed that current transport practices are in breach of EU animal-welfare rules. It has further claimed that “based on available evidence, the live export journeys from Ireland cause unnecessary suffering and amount to animal cruelty”.

It has also claimed that unweaned calves are having to travel for 24 hours, or more, and cannot receive liquid, or milk, or milk replacer on board livestock vessels.

An ex-parté application – where only one side is present – seeking leave to apply for judicial review was opened in the High Court this week.

In its judicial review application statement, Ethical Farming Ireland outlined how it had publicly raised concerns over the international trade that relates to the export of live and unweaned calves from Ireland to continental Europe for a “considerable period of time”.

It said – along with representatives of other non-governmental organisations – it had engaged with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on this matter, raising its concerns in March 2020 and May 2020, about potential breaches of EU regulation.

In March 2020, Ethical Farming Ireland wrote to the minister bringing to his attention the claim that unweaned calves may go for 24 hours or more, without feed on live export journeys.

Calf exports – journey time

However, through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the non governmental organisation (NGO) discovered that in some instances, such journeys have taken up to 28 hours.

The group has also claimed that some information and journey logs (returned under the FOI Act) were missing. Other journey logs requested either do not exist or cannot be found, the NGO was told.

This incomplete record-keeping is important, the NGO maintained, because, such information is key to assessing whether or not transport practices are lawful, and animals are not subjected to undue suffering.

Correspondence from the DAFM was also included in Ethical Farming Ireland’s statement.

Part of this correspondence stated the DAFM’s satisfaction that the systems in place “are supportive of the welfare of the animals and in compliance with relevant legislation”.

The matter has been adjourned to November 1, 2022 before which Ethical Farming Ireland must put the state on notice of the application for judicial review.