Transcripts reveal owner’s battle to discover the truth

The following are conversations between Michael Maloney and emerald Isle’s Ted Farrell; and the Irish Mail on Sunday and the horse trader (not named here for legal reasons) who sold Mr Maloney the horse. These are edited extracts (for space and repetition) of the conversations. At no stage does anybody raise any concerns over the entry of potentially dodgy horsemeat into the food chain.

TED FARRELL SPEAKING TO MICHAEL MALONEY

TF: You’ll have to go back to that man and ask him where the passport is, because I asked the vet and he said, “If you buy a horse off a man and he didn’t give you the passport, then that man has a serious problem with you.”

Because the horse was presented here, it was passed by the Department of Agriculture, read, and they have a recording of it. So, obviously, he sold two horses with one passport at this stage. That man obviously sold another horse. [Horse trader] will have to answer questions now because he sold both horses. And if he didn’t sell both horses, how did your passport end up with another horse? We have traceability the whole way back. I’ll get the vets and get them to check and say yes or no, the passport came in here but, like… the department check every horse, and they scan every horse, so it’s nothing to do with us, and it’s your man’s [horse trader] problem now because he obviously sold another horse with the same passport.’

MM: How can two horses end up with the same microchip number?

TF: [Laughs] Well, that’s what nobody knows, but obviously, like, the department have a scanner here and they scan every horse coming into the place. It has nothing to do with us. We present the horses, whoever the horse’s owner is, if there’s a problem with the horses, it’s on them. The man that has the problem now is the man [horse trader] that should have had your passport.

MM: How can another horse have ended up with the same microchip?

TF: ‘It’s with [the horse trader]. You may go to law. There was a passport with horse to the department. They identified it and passed it. So, obviously, the man you bought the horse off has sold another horse using the passport for the horse that you do have now.’

MM: This microchip number has passed through your factory and is now recorded as slaughtered.

TF: ‘Yeah, well, if Horse Sport Ireland say it is, it’s been sent back from here and the horse was slaughtered.’

MM: Blank microchips? Is that possible?

TF: The man who had the passport is the only man that’ll know that, if you ask [horse trader] all them questions. Because he was the man that bred the horse, so he’ll have the original passport and there’s only one passport issued. It’s not as if there’s a dozen of them floating around. And somebody’s doing something. You may go back to [horse trader] and ask him what he done. I’m not saying anything about a microchip, but I’m saying when the department scanned it, they scanned it and got the number. The horse was presented for slaughter, and the number that came up, they have it, and as far as they’re concerned, that was

correct. It’s nothing at all to do with me. You’re not supposed to take possession of a horse without a passport. Obviously, the man that broke the law from my point of view is the man that sold you the horse without giving you the book.

MM: [The horse trader] says he may have made a mistake with which passport he gave with which horse.

TF: That’s only bull **** … The fact is the horse was slaughtered here. We’ll check and see is that chip number came in, and I’ll check it with the department. But after that, you may go to [the horse trader] and ask him where your book is.

As far as I know, I never dealt with [the horse trader]. But, the horse is slaughtered, it came in with a book, and it’s up to him to know, like, where did his book go?

Obviously, he sold a horse and a book to someone. And he’s telling you it’s your problem? It’s f***ing well not. You may get on to your solicitor, send [the horse trader] a note, and ask him for your book.

If [the horse trader] came in here with a horse and no book, he’d be told to take the horse home again. That’s the law as it stands with buying a horse. Unless you have the book, you don’t own the horse…

The horse was killed here, I’ll establish it was killed here and the date and after that, it’s after [horse trader] to sort it out.”

WHAT THE HORSE TRADER TOLD THE MoS

Yes, I know the horse you’re talking about it. I sold it to Eamon. I think that’s his name. He rang me about it recently and he was upset because he cannot get a passport for it now. I told him to get on to the department about it and they’d sort it out. They have to sort it out, it’s a genuine mix-up.

He bought two horses from me at the same time, one grey mare and one bay gelding. He took the bay gelding with him at the time and he said he’d come back for the grey mare but he never did.

Before that I had sold a bay gelding to another fella and it’s there the mix-up occurred. I confused the two passports. You have to remember I had over 300 horses here at that time, buying and selling – I know and remember every animal but the passports got confused, I admit that.

I can’t remember who I sold that horse to but they must have sold him on and that’s how he ended in the slaughter. He was a decent animal, high-priced, not like the ones I sold Eamon, but he ended in the slaughter anyway.

[Eamon] phoned me because he has a customer for that horse and he cannot get a passport and I understand why he’s upset. The department will have to step in.

You can’t get away with anything now at the slaughter – there’s a fella there from (the department?) and they have to establish that the animal’s microchip number matches the number in the passport.