The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is pushing for Northern Ireland to follow the recent example of the Scottish parliament and introduce legislation that will require mandatory CCTV recording in meat factories.

The move in Scotland was in relation to animal welfare concerns raised in 2018. Factories will be required to install and operate the cameras and retain the footage for 90 days.

Director of Meat Industry Ireland Cormac Healy said there were no plans to make CCTV compulsory here as “there is already a significant amount of CCTV operational in Irish meat processing facilities due to customer requirements and further developments will be guided by EU legislation”.