Poultry Sector

Thursday, 2 July 2026

Questions (379)

Roderic O'Gorman

Question:

379. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 720 of 16 June 2026, if he will clarify if any birds on Irish egg producer operations, be they enriched, barn or free range, have their beaks trimmed; if so, to provide accurate statistics on the number of birds whose beaks were trimmed in 2025; the breakdown for enriched, barn and free range; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50438/26]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Birds for the laying hen sector in Ireland are imported as day old chicks from Great Britain. Beak trimming is carried out on the birds prior to arrival. The majority of birds in the Irish laying hen sector, including those in enriched caged, barn and free range systems have had their beaks trimmed.

As the beak trimming process is not carried out in Ireland I am not in a position to provide specific data on beak trimming carried out in 2025. However, based on data held in my Department, there are an estimated 1,063,200 birds in enriched caged systems, 1,100,556 birds in barn systems and 1,939,312 birds in free range layer system.

Organic egg layer flocks have a no-beak trimming policy because this is a specific requirement of the EU organic legislation and there are an estimated 142,961 birds in organic layer systems .