mr president it is very important that animals are transported to ensure safety and to prevent avoidable suffering
i use this term because animals as a rule find any motorised transport frightening
it is important to minimise that where possible
when regulating for this safety and prevention of suffering we tend to look at time and distance
this is natural but it is simplistic in the case of ireland which i remind you is an island and also a major animal exporter
time limits and distance when crossing the waters that separate us from the continent and from our markets cannot be the absolute
we heard a recommendation of eight hours but it takes more than eight hours to get an animal boarded and across water
there is no possibility of taking an animal out to graze in the middle of the channel
so i would recommend to you that we look at the conditions under which the animals are transported particularly in the case of ireland rather than just time and distance
