Ireland’s small-scale abattoir network has been in slow collapse for decades — a crisis driven by structural neglect, centralisation, and an export-first agricultural model. This decline blocks farmers from supplying local markets, undermines animal welfare, and concentrates power in the hands of a few large processors. Talamh Beo is calling for a new national framework to support low-throughput, community-based abattoirs and mobile slaughter facilities. These are essential to realising food sovereignty, reducing emissions, and restoring farmer and community control over food systems.
The decline of small abattoirs has been unfolding over decades. Ireland’s meat processing sector has become highly centralised, with regulations and funding systems favouring large-scale, export-oriented operations. This has made it virtually impossible for new or existing small abattoirs to survive. Poultry and pig producers are especially affected, but the impact is now being felt across beef and lamb sectors as well.
Many farmers selling directly to consumers rely on just one or two abattoirs. If these close, are fully booked, or raise prices, farmers lose their market access overnight. This concentration of processing power increases costs, adds uncertainty, and severely limits autonomy for small-scale and agroecological producers.
The loss of local slaughter options means animals travel further, often for hours, increasing stress, emissions, and cost. This undermines farmers’ commitments to animal welfare and removes the possibility of a calm and dignified “good death” for livestock raised with care.
Regulatory systems treat all meat processors the same, applying rules designed for export-scale factories to community-level or farm-based operations. Licensing, food safety, and planning rules impose disproportionate burdens, effectively criminalising small abattoirs and deterring new ones from opening.
Ireland exports the majority of its beef and lamb, and is a net exporter of pork by volume. Yet at the same time, we import large volumes of pork and poultry products, especially processed and retail-ready goods.
This creates the absurd situation where farmers produce food for export but can’t access, process, or sell their own meat locally. Farmers are locked into global supply chains that send their produce abroad, while imported products return to fill supermarket shelves.
This situation highlights the economic and ecological absurdity of the current model:
Talamh Beo envisions a decentralised network of low-impact, high-welfare, small-scale abattoirs embedded in rural communities. These should include:
This is not just about logistics — it’s about power. Restoring small-scale slaughter is essential to reclaiming food systems from the grip of corporate consolidation and re-rooting them in the land, the people who farm it, and the communities who eat from it.
We call on the Irish Government — especially DAFM, the Department of Health, and the Department of Rural and Community Development — to urgently take the following steps:
A resilient, ethical, and community-embedded meat system cannot exist without small-scale, local abattoirs. These facilities are the missing link in Ireland’s food sovereignty strategy. Without them, farmers will remain locked into an exploitative, extractive model that exports quality produce while denying communities the right to eat from their own land.
We cannot grow a healthy food system when the means of production, processing and distribution are held far from the people and places they serve. It’s time to bring them home.
Talamh Beo – Farming for the Future
Website: www.talamhbeo.ie
Email: info@talamhbeo.ie
