
Secret footage from major cattle export facility in Kerry reveal calves beaten before export
It's going to damage the reputation that we have across Europe of providing top quality, fit, healthy animals President of ICMSA
Watch Prime Time, tonight at 9.35pm on RT One & RT Player
Tonight in a special report on Prime Time, RT Investigates broadcasts new undercover footage of Irish bull calves being cruelly treated including recordings at a major cattle export facility in Kerry revealing calves being repeatedly struck in the face, force-fed, jabbed with tools and dragged by the ears and tail.
RT has continued to investigate the treatment of Irish calves in the wake of Europe-wide interest in its major report published and broadcast in July 2023, RT Investigates: Milking It, Dairy's Dirty Secret. It exposed how EU regulations on the transport of live animals were being broken as Irish bull calves were transported by truck to mainland Europe. The programme also raised major questions about the treatment of animals at marts in Ireland.
Leading animal welfare expert Dr Simon Doherty of Queens University Belfast described what he saw in the footage to be shown tonight as cruelty: I think where there's kicking and screaming and slapping and prodding with pitchforks, that is at the cruelty level.
The footage was filmed in Hallissey Livestock Exports in Fossa, near Killarney in March this year. It was recorded on cameras secretly placed and brought onto the site by animal rights campaigners, and provided to RT Investigates.
Denis Drennan, President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), said what he saw in the new footage is completely unacceptable. Watching the footage, Mr Drennan said there's a man there with a stick beating calves. It's completely abolished and against the law, and there's a man there with a pitchfork, trying to run calves out the gate completely unacceptable.
Calves are prepared for export on trucks at the facility. Denis Drennan says footage of two calves being force fed using stomach tubes raises concern about why they are at the facility in the first place. The rules and regulations say that if an animal is not fit to travel, it shouldn't travel. It's going to damage the reputation that we have across Europe of providing top quality, fit, healthy animals, he told RT Investigates.
Tonight's report also shows how dead animals were piled into a mound and left to rot outside the facility in Kerry, which raises major disease-risk concerns, according to Dr Simon Doherty of Queens University Belfast.
Cameras captured over four days several dead calves being removed from sheds. Some were dragged out by farm hands, others lifted using a teleporter. They were placed on a mound of dead and decaying calf carcases lying in the open air, rain pouring over them.
Dr Simon Doherty of Queens University Belfast said it appeared some of the animals have been there for weeks. If those are still within sight, sound, smell of other living animals, I mean that's just absolutely fundamentally wrong from a welfare perspective, there's a huge disease risk, he said.
It looks like they're just thrown in a heap somewhere. I just really don't understand, it beggars belief that somebody would leave animals that length of time around their premises, said Denis Drennan.
The report reignites questions raised by RT Investigates last year about the treatment of Irish bull calves here during the live export process. Following the 2023 RT investigation the then Taosieach Leo Vardkar, described the cruelty exposed as repugnant and he told the D il that the Department of Agriculture would commence a robust and timely investigation into the incidents highlighted.
In response to queries from RT a solicitor for Hallissey Livestock Exports said that their client's business provides a valuable service to the farming community and at all times takes reasonable care to ensure it does so in a manner which protects the welfare of the animals in its charge. Pointing out that Hallissey Livestock Exports Limited is regulated by the Department of Agriculture, the solicitor's letter states, while no system is ever perfect, it is satisfied that its business is compliant with the highest standards.
Tonight's special report will also feature footage of the condition hundreds Irish calves were left in after being exported across Romania and onwards to Israel. RT Investigates traced their journey and witnessed the Irish calves exiting transport vehicles in Haifa Port in Northern Israel.
Israel has had an increased demand for cattle imports from Romania since several countries ceased transporting live exports to it after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Research by RT Investigates found that thousands of calves originating from Ireland are listed as Romanian in official Israeli import figures.
Watch RT Investigates, Live Exports: On the Hoof, on Prime Time tonight, Tuesday 8th October at 9.35pm on RT One television.
RT Investigates report is by RT Prime Time presenter and former Agricultural Correspondent Fran McNulty and producer/director Frank Shouldice.
ENDS
Date: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Notes to Editor: Please credit RT Investigates when using content, quotes, and images.
Communications Manager, RT News & Current Affairs: Laura Fitzgerald
Most recent headlines
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
19/12/2025
L3Harris technology for the SDA Tranche 3 Tracking Layer program will provide in...
19/12/2025
Partnership brings Nielsen ONE measurement activation directly into XR's adv...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Berklee Announces Spring 2026 Signature Series This season's highlights include the Gospel Extravaganza, the 40th International Folk Festival, special gue...
19/12/2025
Performing arts centres across the globe have doubled down on live production infrastructure in recent years. For venues like the Queensland Performing Arts Cen...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Ricardo Coke-Thomas Named Chair of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee The distinguished theater educator, director, and performer will join the Conser...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador Arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to give your WO Automation for Radio system a quick tune up. At the top of your year end checklist is on...
19/12/2025
19 Dec 2025
VEON's Mobilink Microfinance Bank Launches Islamic Banking Oper...
19/12/2025
Wrapping up a year of connection and clarity!
19 Dec Written By Suzanne Costello
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank our incredib...
19/12/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
19/12/2025
Rohde & Schwarz drives the future of mobility at CES 2026 At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Rohde & Schwarz will present a powerful lineup o...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Last Samurai Standing' Renewed for Season 2 - A Global Se...
19/12/2025
RT is proud to return to the RDS to support the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & T...
19/12/2025
Nanoparticle vaccine strategy could protect against Ebola and other deadly filoviruses Scripps Research scientists turn nanoparticles into virus showcases to ...
18/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Kurt Sutton, Director of Broadcast Operations, Clemson ...
18/12/2025
Follow the Money Episode 2: Inside the Sports Media Biz with Sam McCleery and St...
18/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Google Cloud's Anshul Kapoor on the Future of Generative Prod...
18/12/2025
The 2025 SVG Summit Draws Record Crowd for 20th-Annual Sports-Production Industr...
18/12/2025
SBS's sports schedule sizzles in January with Dakar Rally, Kooyong Classic a...
18/12/2025
Canada's largest indoor arena has transformed its live production capabilities with a full ST 2110 infrastructure and Calrec's compact Argo S console. S...
18/12/2025
During November, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.2%, an increase of 0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...