Outcry as State pays €200k to mink farms
Gaeltacht grants given to fur firms that gas animals at just six months
Irish Mail on Sunday, 2 June 2019
By John Lee
Two Irish fur farms have received more than €200,000 in grants from Udaras na Gaeltachta, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports expressed its disgust at the grants, which are provided under employment and capital grant schemes.
The anti-bloodsports campaigners also questioned whether Udaras na Gaeltachta grants should be used for a practice, fur farming, that polls show 80% of the Irish population opposes.
Campaigners said the State description of Udaras is of a “regional development authority responsible for job creation, enterprise and community development and Irish language maintenance in the Gaeltacht” and it funds and fosters a “wide range of enterprise development and job creation initiatives”. It is funded via the Department of Culture and Heritage and last year received nearly €20 million.
Tazetta fur farm, near Glenties, has received at least six annual grants over the past decade from the state body.
The funding began in 2009 when the company received a €10,400 grant. The following year, Udaras handed over €26,000 to the fur farm. This was followed by €28,261 in 2014, €58,149 in 2015, €7,090 in 2016 and €3,560 in 2017. Figures for 2018 are not available.
Tazetta is one of Ireland’s three remaining fur farms, where tens of thousands of mink are permanently caged and gassed to death at six months old.
Another fur farm, Roxy Ltd - which is now closed down - received €82,123 from the taxpayer-funded Udaras na Gaeltachta as “grant assistance” for mink farming. The funding was approved by Udaras in 1984 - the year the fur farm was first licensed - and over the following two decades, tens of thousand of punts and euro were paid to the fur farm, located in Killybegs.
The figures which are confirmed by Udaras na Gaeltachta accounts said that Roxy Ltd received £52,387 in Irish pounds before 1999. Then in 1999, after the adoption of the euro, it received €7,703. In 2001: €1,340; 2002: €7,617; 2004: €1,055...totalling €82,123. The funding for the two firms came to €215,583.
A spokeswoman for the Irish Council Against Blood Sports said: “We are calling for an end to these grants and renewing our appeal to the Government to respect the wishes of the vast majority and ban fur farming.”
However, Udaras defended its policy. In a statement, it says both companies complied with all Department of Agriculture regulations, and provided considerable employment for the last 21 years.
A spokesman said: “The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine set out the legislative provisions for the licensing of mink farming in the State...It is understood that licensees are subject to regular inspections by departmental officials.
“Tazetta Ltd and Roxy Ltd eligibility for state aid was thoroughly assessed under the requirements set out in State Aid rules and were found to be eligible for state support in 2009 and 1998 respectively.”
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ACTION ALERT
Demand an immediate end to Údarás na Gaeltachta’s fur farming grants.
Mícheál Ó hÉanaigh
CEO, Údarás na Gaeltachta
Head Office,
Na Forbacha, Galway
Telephone: 091 503100
Email: moheanaigh@udaras.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UdarasnaG
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UdarasnaG
Urge Taoiseach/Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed to put in place a long overdue ban on fur farming.
Leo Varadkar TD
Department of the Taoiseach
Merrion Street, Dublin 2
Phone: +353 (0)1-6194000 OR +353 (0)1-6403133, +353 (0)1-6194598 (Constituency Office)
Email: leo.varadkar@oir.ie, leoconstituency@taoiseach.gov.ie, finegael@finegael.ie
CC: michael.creed@oir.ie (Agriculture Minister Michael Creed)
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leovaradkar
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar
Michael Creed TD
Minister for Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: michael.creed@oir.ie
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Tweet to: @creedcnw
Please contact all your local TDs and urge them to support Solidarity's Fur Farm Prohibition bill 2018. Contact details for TDs can be found at https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/32
VIDEOS
Mink screaming at Vasa fur farm in Stradbally, County Laois
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/2155285741253639
NARA footage showing caged mink at Tazetta fur farm in Donegal
https://www.facebook.com/NARAcampaignsIRELAND/videos/1694193503937318/
Victims of Ireland's cruel far farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=artr7qwCLLk&index=2&list=PL43C1F00F38986C68
Mink pulled from cages and thrown into gassing box
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/2241073319549210/
Údarás na Gaeltachta grants to Tazetta fur farm
2017: €3,560
2016: €7,090
2015: €58,149
2014: €28,261 (confirmed as employment grant)
2010: €26,000
2009: €10,400
Total: €133,460
Údarás na Gaeltachta grants to Roxy fur farm
Pre-1999: £52,387 (€66,517)
1999: £6,067 (€7,703)
2001: €1,340
2002: €7,617
2004: €-1,055 (deduction)
Total: €82,123