In January 2024, the National Animal Rights Association and Animal Rebellion Ireland began investigating Ireland’s pig industry. The farms chosen were picked randomly, in an effort to give an honest and unbiased insight as to what really happens in Ireland. Inside these awful sheds, as you will see from the video on our website, are pigs in sow stalls, farrowing crates, fattening pens and dead and dying pigs just left to struggle in gangways.

There were many pigs and piglets sick and injured. Some were biting the bars of their pens repeatedly, which is a stress-induced stereotypical behaviour. Others were fearful, or just broken. The sadness and distress they displayed was undeniable.

What you won’t be able to see in the video is the nauseating stench of faeces, urine and decay. What is vividly clear though, is the blatant cruelty and complete absence of any hint of compassion towards these animals.

Welfare codes usually list five basic freedoms that claim to underpin pig welfare best practice at farm level. The “five freedoms” are listed below and provide an overall concept of alleged pig welfare:

1 Freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition

2 Freedom from discomfort

3 Freedom from pain, injury and disease

4 Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour

5 Freedom from fear and distress


We failed to see Five Freedoms being complied with during our investigation. These farms are void of any semblance of humanity or even basic husbandry. The blatant depravity that exists in this industry, is to a level that even we were not fully expecting to see.

Following our investigation, we made an anonymous call to the Dept. of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Unit, to report what we witnessed on grounds of both animal welfare and biosecurity. All footage and details of the farms have been handed in to the Dept. of Agriculture too, and we sincerely hope the farms are investigated and prosecuted.

Regardless of any prosecutions, we want the entire pig industry shut down, and not over a lengthy transitional period. It needs to be shut down immediately. There is no way this industry can excuse or explain why they treat these beautiful, intelligent animals the way they do. No one could look at these pigs in those stalls, crates or pens, and convince themselves that they are content and well cared for. Regardless, there is no justification for using, exploiting or killing any animal, for any reason, in the first place.

If dogs and cats were kept in such conditions, there would be national outrage, legal prosecutions, and immediate changes in legislation to prohibit its continuance. What makes pigs any less worthy of basic empathy?

The pig industry is an abomination that needs to be eliminated from this country. Every second it continues to exist, is a second longer that these animals are forced to endure a life of suffering, alone in those dark, disgusting sheds.

We don’t need to kill animals in order to live. Transitioning to a vegan agricultural system in Ireland is not only possible, but a moral necessity – and a good place to start is by banning pig farming.