A Westmeath councillor is describing last week's Prime Time programme on the dairy sector as "disturbing" but not actually representative of what happens in dairy farms.
Councillor John Dolan who is a dairy farmer himself says what he saw in the footage last week does not represent standard practice as regards the treatment of animals of any age on farms in Ireland.
The Fine Gael representative says while he and the vast majority of other farmers can't condone the behaviour of some people seen on the footage, towards the young calves, it's not fair to find 18,000 dairy farmers culpable for the wrongs of a few.
"I'm a dairy farmer myself and have been for a good few years and I have to say, and any of us that's involved in the industry, none of us can condone what we seen last Monday night but I know that my colleagues that are in the same business as myself, it's in our interest to look after the calves no matter what value they are. What really struck me was that even the exporter, the calves that are being exported, the people that are buying them, if they don't land in good condition, it doesn't make financial sense".
