The debate and vote come as the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport (ANIT) has proposed a ban on the transport of pregnant animals in the last third of gestation; a maximum journey time of two hours for unweaned animals over 35 days’; and a complete ban for unweaned animals under 35 days’.
The proposals were put forward by MEPs from various EU green parties.
Commenting recently on this issue, Fianna Fáil MEP and member of the Committee on Animal Transport, Billy Kelleher, told Agriland:
“The greens have driven a ‘coach-and-four’ through the very fabric of rural Ireland with these proposals.”
Kelleher also claimed that, if Irish farmers and transporters are banned from transporting calves to mainland Europe, it will “be an attack on the principles underpinning the European Single Market”.
The Fianna Fáil MEP said he would table alternative proposals when the report came up for debate in the next full session of the European Parliament.