A petition signed by over 12,000 people seeking to end the export of Irish horses for slaughter was delivered to the Department of Agriculture and Food office in Dublin yesterday.
The petition was organised by the Irish Horse Welfare Trust (IHWT) which claimed the department had refused to give it information on the number of horses exported for slaughter.
"They say that, because of a tripartite agreement with France and Britain governing the free movement of horses, it has no information on the number of horses being shipped abroad for slaughter," said Sharon Newsome, of the IHWT. "We are not opposed to the humane slaughter of horses here and the export of their carcases but we want to stop the live export of horses immediately," she said.
She said because there were no abattoirs in Ireland slaughtering horses for consumption, the live export trade would increase dramatically. "The problem is that we do not know how many of the estimated half-million horses in Ireland will end up in this trade, but we do know that it is a cruel trade which Britain has managed to stop despite it being part of the agreement between France, Ireland and Britain," she said.
Ms Newsome said the agreement allows additional national rules which would make the trade difficult, if not impossible. She added that research into the trade showed most horses transported across Europe to slaughterhouses arrived suffering from extreme exhaustion, and many collapsed, suffered injury or died en route.
However, the department last night said the trade in horses between member states was governed by European rules to be applied to such animals for trade purposes. "Ireland does not certify horses for slaughter as health certificates do not distinguish this as a purpose of export and therefore we do not have statistics in this regard," it said.
About 20 protesters, two mounted on horses, took part in a small protest at the gates of the Dáil and outside the department offices yesterday.