There should never be a situation arising in a Christian country whereby animals are being slaughtered in a halal manner. Never mind be a situation whereby a debt of over half a million has been racked up by the operator of a halal slaughter factory. It's reflective and indicative of a lot of change.
None of this change is good.
I've done my best to expose what's being going on in this country regarding halal slaughter and products. It's on your children's school menu. It's in your restaurants and takeaways. It's in our hospitals and prisons. There's a domestic market and a huge export market. There's even a Bord Bia office in Dubai. There's no legal obligation on the government or sellers of halal meat to tell you what you're eating. Even if you ask. There's ONLY an onus to mark meat products as halal certified if they are marketed specifically toward Muslims. Some Muslims do not object to reverse stunning being used to slaughter animals (lessening cruelty and suffering), but many do. Either way, there's no way of knowing whether animals have been slaughtered in a halal manner (when buying products or eating out). Halal meat is in the general food supply. Even the supermarkets can't reliably tell you whether their products are halal or not (although some products are marked with a surreptitious code which only Muslim customers may recognise).
ALL halal slaughtered animals are prayed over with Islamic prayer before death. Furthermore, this slaughter can only be done by Muslims (therefore, increasingly non Muslims are locked out of jobs in the slaughter sector). Additionally, those who carry out this slaughter have to be well trained in making the cut across the throat in an efficient and effective manner (to lessen suffering). But who is making sure if those carrying out this practice are well trained? Often, they're put on the job immediately with little to no supervision. What regulations are there? How well enforced are they? Where's the public oversight and transparency?