In 2021, a proposal was put to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue for the construction of a calf lairage in close proximity to Rosslare Port, Co. Wexford.
The proposal was made by welfare chair of the Irish Livestock Stakeholders’ Association, Seamus Scallan.
While there has been no progress made on the proposal since then, the matter was discussed at a meeting between representatives from a number of livestock marts and Irish calf exporters last week.
The meeting took place in Portlaoise, Co. Laois, and was organised by the Irish Livestock Stakeholders’ Association, which is chaired by livestock exporter Barry Logan.
Representatives from marts across Ireland were in attendance at the meeting and the spring 2024 calf market was the key concern on the minds of mart representatives and calf exporters alike.
The keynote speaker at the meeting was Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher, who shared his views on the proposal to construct a calf lairage near Rosslare, entre to which was ensuring high animal welfare standards.
“Well we have to look at shortening the journey time in terms of animals that are bought at marts, brought to holding yards and then moved on to the continent,” the Fianna Fáil MEP said.
“We have to ensure…the highest standards right throughout that process so anything that shortens the journey time – in other words the amount of time that that animals are on transporters – is something that we should look at.
“I would take the best advice from Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and from other stakeholders as well to see how we can continue to move calves, accepting that we have to increase the standards again,” he said.
“We have high welfare standards but we have to insist on higher ones.
“We also have to look at the age of the calf at transport, the journey time, access to water, temperature on the transporters and GPS monitoring, lifetime monitoring, video surveillance,” he added.
“All of these things will have to be part and parcel of the new system I think so that we can guarantee the integrity of the entirety of the transportation of the animal.”