Results 1-20 of 1,035,732 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae) 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)

Cormac Devlin: Mr. Gleeson and the other witnesses are all very welcome back to the committee. It is good to engage. I will pick up on that last point. I think Mr. Gleeson said earlier to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh that the Department does not know who owns the lands that the horses are on. 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)

Cormac Devlin: There are inspections being carried out, however.

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)

Cormac Devlin: It kind of puzzles me, given the concern that has been raised about all of this, that the horses we have a concern about could potentially still be under the control and guidance - I was going to say care - of the same individual who either operates, runs or owns the equine slaughterhouse. Is that true?

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)

Cormac Devlin: Does that not bother anybody in the Department? It is the same issue. I know Mr. Gleeson said he has read the file. From what I am hearing from the witnesses today, the Department is doing a root-and-branch review, as Mr. Gleeson said earlier, and that is understandable. However, from the committee's perspective, it makes no logical sense whatsoever to have the same individual, who is...

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)

Cormac Devlin: I understand that.

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)

Cormac Devlin: I should clarify that I am actually talking about process in general from the Department's perspective. In the face of any abuse, the individual or creature or whoever is of concern in minding those individuals or items, whatever it might be, I suggest there needs to be a review of that urgently, separate to what we are talking about. That has to be handled better, let us put it that way. ...

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)

Cormac Devlin: Okay. Mr. Gleeson said the inspections carried out on the equine slaughterhouse were on the curtilage, I think he said.

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)

Cormac Devlin: Noting it is the only one in the country, how long has that equine slaughterhouse been in operation?

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)

Cormac Devlin: Was there ever more than one equine slaughterhouse in the country in operation at any given time?

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)

Cormac Devlin: Why did the Kilkenny abattoir cease?

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)

Cormac Devlin: I hear what Mr. Gleeson is saying and I know it is a sensitive issue given the timeframe we are operating to right now, but if there were several slaughterhouses in operation and one slaughterhouse had a previous conviction or a conviction while in operation, does the current contract with the Department allow that same individual set up under a new name or a new entity and engage with a...

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)

Cormac Devlin: A licence or whatever it may be.

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)

Cormac Devlin: Sorry, it is an approval.

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)

Cormac Devlin: I presume inspections would flow from that same question as well in terms of additional oversight, etc.

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)

Cormac Devlin: I can appreciate that. Staying with the animal cruelty element of things, I know the Department was involved with the Department of Rural and Community Development in terms of the control of dangerous dogs. It is something I have raised with the Department of agriculture before. I know the stakeholder engagement group has been established, which is wonderful. Speaking of the licence or...

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)

Cormac Devlin: What kind of timeline are we talking on that, roughly?

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)

Cormac Devlin: In terms of the dogs issue, or cats or any other animals such as donkeys, you name it, that other shelters are looking after, and there are some specific shelters around the country that deal with specific types of animals for understandable reasons and then there are other mixed homes such as cat and dog homes, etc. I appreciate there is a split between Mr. Gleeson's Department and the...

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)

Cormac Devlin: That is some clarity on it. In terms of complaints, would the complaints about any particular pound or operator come directly to the Department?

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)

Cormac Devlin: This is where it gets quite complex and this is part of the problem. What I was referring to earlier with Mr. Gleeson was that when he spoke of a root and branch approach, what I do not want to see is the equine sector being root and branch reviewed and certain criteria applied, if he can see what I am getting at here, and then in another section we are back here in a year's time talking...

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)

Cormac Devlin: I appreciate that.