Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Brian Stanley TD, has said that it was utterly farcical for Michael Sheahan, deputy chief veterinarian at the Department of Agriculture, to tell the committee that they could “never have imagined anything like this” when questioned about the Shannonside horse abattoir scandal.

The Sinn Féin TD made his remarks after a response to a Parliamentary Question has now revealed that the department itself had initiated court actions against Shannonside.

That hearing, with IHRB, HRI and the Department of Agriculture, took place after the RTÉ Investigates programme revealed serious animal welfare abuses and cruel treatment of horses being sent for slaughter at Ireland’s only licensed equine abattoir.

Teachta Stanley said:

“At that time, I put it to Mr Sheahan that, as there were incidents of animal cruelty reported by the public to the department, was the department not on high alert, and measures were being put in place?

“His response was ‘if you were to ask me even three weeks ago what standards were like within the slaughter plant in Straffan, I would say that standards were very good within this slaughter plant in Straffan’.

“But thanks to a Parliamentary Question response received by my party colleague, Réada Cronin TD, ahead of today’s PAC meeting with the Department of Agriculture, we now know that this wasn’t the case, and that the department themselves had launched an investigation before the RTÉ Investigates programme.

“That response said ‘in advance of any events highlighted in the recent television programme, investigations led by my department involving individuals connected to business mentioned and another Garda-led investigation into other individuals have both progressed such that prosecution cases will shortly be heard before the courts’.

“When I asked secretary general for agriculture, Brendan Gleeson, how his department had been able to say it was unaware of any matters of concern in Straffan despite the existence of both historic and current prosecutions against people involved with the business, his response was that from the point of view of supervision of the abattoir that they ‘were satisfied that things seemed reasonably okay’.

“The department has further questions to answer on this. Department officials cannot tell us they weren’t aware of things happening when they were.

“We only know this thanks to Deputy Cronin’s Parliamentary Question.

“We have both submitted a number of parliamentary questions on this matter, and will continue to pursue this case until its conclusion.”