Serious animal welfare abuses and cruelty have been uncovered in the treatment of horses that are being sent for slaughter at Ireland's only licensed equine abattoir.
The behaviour was secretly filmed in a building used by Shannonside Foods Ltd in Straffan, where the company keeps horses before they are brought across a yard to the kill room in the slaughterhouse.
The Department of Agriculture has staff working at the abattoir on slaughter days, but confirms that its staff only has jurisdiction to oversee a separate building which contains the meat plant.Their remit does not extend to inspecting the nearby building where horses are kept by the company before they are sent for slaughter.
Footage, captured by RTÉ Investigates, shows the routine mistreatment of the animals and will be broadcast as part of a special programme on Wednesday night on RTÉ One television.
The issues were uncovered as part of wide-ranging investigation into Irish and European equine industries by RTÉ Investigates.
Professor Christopher Elliot, founder of Queen's University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security, reviewed the secretly recorded footage, which showed frequent beatings of the animals with a long semi-rigid alkathene water pipe.
"I've visited lairages and slaughterhouses for probably about 45 years. I have never seen anything like this. This is ... like nothing I have seen ever experienced before, it just is unbelievably distressing," he said.
"This contravenes all regulations about how animals should be treated in terms of animal welfare. It's just unimaginable, the pain and suffering that these animals are going through. I mean, it's just... it is a scandal," Professor Elliot said.
Forensic veterinary expert David Martin said he could see no justification for the treatment of the horses.
"There's no reason why the horses should be subjected to the cruelty that they're being subjected to. There's absolutely no justification for it," he said.
In 2023, around 2,000 horses were slaughtered at Shannonside Foods Ltd. Two-thirds of these horses had been bred for the racing industry.
In a statement, the Department of Agriculture said, in relation to the premises over which they have oversight: "There is a full-time DAFM presence [on the licenced premises] during the hours of slaughter. No welfare issues or infringements in animal transport were noted in the animals presented for slaughter on the above dates."
It said "all available evidence of illegal activity… will be appropriately investigated".
Shannonside Foods Ltd said it rejects the claims made in the RTÉ Investigates report and that it takes its legal responsibilities seriously and "any allegation of an equine being mistreated while at the company’s facility will be investigated by the company."
Coverage of this issue from RTÉ Investigates continues across RTÉ platforms over coming days.
