The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals lobbied the Department of Agriculture in recent weeks in a bid to stop live cattle exports to non-EU markets. It has disclosed the move on the register of lobbying.

It stated that chief executive officer Dr Andrew Kelly emailed chief veterinary officer in the Department, Martin Blake, on 3 April. Kelly expressed concern about the welfare of cattle exported live to non-EU markets.

He called for the suspension of live transport “pending an investigation into conditions and cruel treatment at non-EU slaughterhouses”.

Some 26,000 Irish cattle have been exported to Turkey for further feeding or breeding since the trade started last summer.

Despite ongoing attempts by its government to increase domestic production, Turkey does not produce all of its meat requirements.

It therefore imports significant volumes of meat and numbers of livestock. It switched some of its cattle imports from France to Ireland in 2016 because of outbreaks of Bluetongue disease in France.

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