There have been four days of actions against Irish Ferries including a formal legal notice being issued to them over alleged breaches of animal welfare legislation during the transport of unweaned calves between Ireland and France.
The notice, sent on behalf of out partners Compassion in World Farming France, FOUR PAWS France and WELFARM, alleges that current transport practices fail to meet EU regulations in relation to feeding requirements, designed to protect unweaned calves, and calls on the company to cease their involvement in the trade. The notice gives Irish Ferries an opportunity to address concerns before any further legal steps are considered. The company now has fifteen days to respond.
European Commission called on to act – again
In parallel, Ethical Farming Ireland and four other NGOs have sent a letter to Commissioner Várhelyi calling for animal welfare legislation to be fully enforced, and for infringement proceedings against Ireland to be initiated, for allowing unweaned calves to be transported to France in breach of legislation. This is following a meeting last September with Commissioner Varhelyi, director Caroline Rowley from Ethical Farming Ireland and a representative from Compassion in World Farming EU, where the Commissioner indicated that he believed the Irish authorities had had more than enough time to resolve the issue of feeding calves during the journey from Ireland to France. Yet a year later no action has been taken. Ethical farming Ireland has had a formal complaint lodged with the European Commission since January 2024, due to their inaction in response to their audit, and in February 2026 a maladministration complaint was submitted to the European Ombudsman. Laws must be enforced.
The suffering continues
This year alone, more than 160,000 calves, some as young as two weeks old, have been shipped from Ireland to France on roll-on, roll-off ferries, before onward transport by land for fattening and slaughter. By the time the calves arrive in France, they have already faced several hours on the road, plus the long sea journey, meaning more than 24 hours without food. This is a breach of EU Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport.
Seven peer reviewed studies conducted between 2022 and 2025 (financially supported by Teagasc) looked at the impact of prolonged feed deprivation, journey length, age of calves, pre and post transport feeding protocols, and the effectiveness of fitness for transport assessment methods. They all concluded that unweaned calves are negatively impacted by these journeys, with dehydration, muscle fatigue, low energy and hypoglycaemia being the main issues, along with respiratory illness. Age variations and larger feeds before transport bore little impact on the calves and current fitness for transport checks were deemed to be ineffective, with lung disease undetected in a large number if calves. These studies have been ignored by DAFM, by the Commission and by Irish Ferries.
Four days of protests
This formal legal notice to Irish Ferries coincides with four days of protests in ports across Ireland, the UK and France, in which Ethical Farming Ireland, Compassion in World Farming, FOUR PAWS and WELFARM, along with Merseyside Animal Rights, East Kent Animal Action and Southampton Animal Action amongst others, called on the company to “stop the cruelty”. With pressure mounting on the ground, Irish Ferries has also been inundated by over 70,000 people across Europe contacting its customer service team to condemn the practice, along with social media actions.
Third blow to Irish calf export industry in a matter of weeks!
Irish Ferries is an outlier as the last remaining operator to carry the live animals from Ireland to mainland Europe, following both Stena Line’s and Brittany Ferries’ recent withdrawal. Brittany Ferries stopped transporting live animals at the start of this month, following a coordinated public pressure campaign by a coalition of NGOs in Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.
This legal notice follows a major commitment by the Dutch Food and Safety Authority (NVWA), earlier this month, to impose fines up to €27,000 on Irish transport companies who fail to feed the young calves at the required intervals, as set out in legislation. This action demonstrates that enforcement authorities can and should act on the continuing failure to comply with the feeding requirements of EU law.
This action once again puts Irish authorities to shame, as they continue to ignore legislation and allow hundreds of thousands of young and vulnerable animals to suffer appallingly during the journey from Ireland to France. Irish Ferries won’t act, because they say the journeys are authorised by DAFM, so they shirk all accountability. However, as an authorised transporter Irish Ferries does have a responsibility to ensure that legislation is adhered to in full, which is clearly not the case. They also have a moral obligation to ensure animals do not suffer on their ferry boats, which is also not the case.
We are delighted our partners have taken this action!
Please contact Irish Ferries and ask them to please stop transporting unweaned calves. It’s inhumane and illegal!
Email: customersupport@irishferries.com
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