Results 1-20 of 1,057,928 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald) in 'Committee meetings'

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: We have apologies from Deputies John Brady, Ciarán Cannon and Imelda Munster. I ask all those in attendance to ensure that their mobile phones are switched off or on silent mode. I wish to explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege and the practices of the Houses as regards references witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. The evidence of witnesses...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: I thank Mr. Gleeson. Before we go to questions, I wish to clarify something from last week's meeting. At last week's hearing, Mr. Sheahan, deputy chief veterinary officer in the Department, was here. Questions were asked by Deputy Catherine Murphy and I regarding potential historical incidents at the Straffan plant that appeared in the "Prime Time" investigation programme. I said, "In...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: Two issues highlighted. How did we get an answer like that from assistant chief veterinary officer? Will Mr. Blake, as the chief veterinary officer, or Mr. Callanan, as the chief inspector, comment?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: We take that as a given.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: To use the word "reasonable" and put it back to Mr. Gleeson, would it not have been reasonable and would there not have been an expectation that he could have said - I want to be careful in what I say at the committee - that there is an ongoing Garda-led investigation into the individuals and a court prosecution due to be heard?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: The horse racing sector was before the committee. Mr. Sheahan came in as a representative of the Department. Is Mr. Gleeson seriously trying to tell me that in the briefing before he came in here, and as the deputy chief veterinary officer, he would not have been aware that there was an ongoing court case regarding this plant?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: What is Mr. Gleeson trying to say?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: No one wants Mr. Gleeson to draw conclusions from an ongoing court case. I, the committee and Deputy Catherine Murphy, are trying to get an answer to these questions. There was an ongoing investigation. We asked specifically about historical cases regarding the individuals involved and the plan and this was not mentioned. Here it is now in a reply to a parliamentary question answered...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Brian Stanley: That fact was highly relevant to answers we tried to get to questions here last Thursday morning. We will leave it at that for now.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I will stay with that issue. Did the person who was operating that abattoir have prior convictions?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: We are not referring to a live court case.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Was the conviction for animal cruelty?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The building did not inflict the cruelty.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: A prior conviction was not enough for alarm bells to ring with the deputy veterinary officer. Would that not invite an additional level of oversight when it had already been established?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The Department has subsequently taken the horses and moved them to different land. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: They have been moved and the land is under the ownership of the person who owns the abattoir.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Are the lands where the horses are now owned by the person who operated the abattoir?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Considering the level of cruelty that was inflicted on those animals, the idea that they are still in the care of the person involved does not sit well with me.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Going back to the statement of the deputy chief veterinary officer last week, Mr. Gleeson said he would be happy to furnish the committee with a report on a deep dive into all this. Internal Department correspondence will come under the spotlight. It will be gone through with a fine-tooth comb. Were any issues raised by members of the Department before?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Mr. Gleeson said there were five complaints. Were they raised within the Department or made externally?