Traffic diversions continued near Lixnaw, Co Kerry, yesterday where a 12-hour operation was completed to lift a truck loaded with pigs from a collapsed bridge.
The driver of the truck and a woman motorist had a narrow escape when the bridge, which has a 12-tonne weight limit, collapsed under the lorry carrying 250 pigs. About 50 pigs were drowned or suffocated.
A statement from the Department of Agriculture said: "The truck with the pigs is going to a lairage where the consignment will be unloaded and fed and rested over the weekend. There will be veterinary supervision of the pigs over the weekend at the lairage and, based on a veterinary report, a decision will be made on the pigs next week."
Labour Party agriculture spokeswoman Dr Mary Upton said she is making a complaint about the incident under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 and has formally written to gardaí in Listowel to ask them to investigate the incident.