We believe the group spoke to students from St Marys College as part of a CSPE action project and distributed literature promoting vegetarianism.

Entitled 'Let's get Ireland going Veggie', the pamphlets, which were sent to us by a farmer whose sister attended the talk, encouraged the young students to 'stop the suffering' by opting to cut meat out of their diets.

"By opening this leaflet, you've just taken the first step towards the best choice you can make for yourself, animals and the environment," it said.

"Most people think of Ireland as an agricultural based country, and this is true, but more and more people are taking up veggie diets because of the many benefits it can bring. But also because it gives them a clear conscience when it comes to the extreme animal abuse that is unleashed on the many millions of animals for food."

The charity claimed that meat consumption can cause heart disease, cancer and impotence. Ireland's agricultural system was criticised in a section called 'Meet your Meat'.

"Farmers today treat cows like milk machines," it said. "Tens of thousands of cows are killed each year because of mastitis infections. Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their babies. Their calves are traumatically taken away from them shortly after birth."

In addition, representatives from the ARAN showed the students a video by PETA listing reasons why vegetarianism is a good choice. The video contains graphic images of animal cruelty.

This charity was also involved in the Save Benjy campaign, which saw a gay bull saved from slaughter.

Campaigns Director for ARAN, John Carmody, told the Irish Farmers Journal that the main focus of the talk was the treatment of circus animals. However, he confirmed that the video promoting vegetarianism was shown to the students and leaflets were distributed.

"This was the very first Irish college or school that we’ve distributed this leaflet – but again, [it was] offered the students if they wanted it or not. It talks about the veggie issue and the animal cruelty as a whole, but so very lightly," he said.

Carmody said students watched footage from the video for just over a minute.

"Again, we asked the students did they want to watch this. It does contain instances of cruelty to animals and that it contains footage from around the world. We showed about 1.5 minutes of the DVD, and that was it," he said.

The principal of St Mary's College was unavailable for comment.