Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-21-Speech-3-476"
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"en.20080521.31.3-476"2
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"Mr President, I am very grateful that there is a growing recognition of the need to handle and care for animals properly. Good animal husbandry is something that Irish farm families have as a rule practised and I commend them for this. However, I would like to stress the necessity for animals and animal products coming into the EU to abide by similar welfare standards to those that the EU requires. It is not fair that animal products which may have been produced in the most cheap and cruel ways come into the EU and compete with our own animal products produced in accordance with standards which are strictly regulated; this kind of competition is not only economically unfair, it puts our animals and even our people at danger of the spread of disease.
A measure discussed in this House which is unrealistic for Irish farmers is the set limit for animal transport. While a nine-hour limit between breaks may be reasonable for land transport, it is virtually impossible to abide by this limit for sea transport from Ireland – remember Ireland is an island. We depend on sea transport of animals and such a limit would ultimately prevent Irish horse breeders and farmers from shipping animals. Thus I would like to propose that we focus more on the quality of travel accommodation of these animals, instead of on the time on board, so that we do not hinder the transportation of animals to and from Ireland.
Finally, while I was glad to see the new animal health strategy open to all animals within the EU, I would have liked to see more specific mention of the procurement and handling of pet animals. I think that many of them suffer in our countries. Pet owners are amateurs in many cases and are less likely to know how to handle and maintain their pets, which often leads to an increase in animal cruelty, often unintentional. So while we have paid very close attention to the regulation of animals coming into the EU, animal transport etc., we have neglected to look at the plight of pets and strays, an issue often mentioned by my constituents who point out the common occurrence of abuse."@en1
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