The Irish government is shielding the companies that sold horsemeat as beef.

If the Irish government intended, in February, to put meat businesses gently on notice so they would cease this practice, that's not wrong in principle. It was a way to put an end to the practice. However, blocking an investigation is going too far.

I see nothing wrong in principle with putting horsemeat in a burger, as long as it is processed safely and announced on the label. The same is true with the other kinds of filler that are normally included in cheap burger patties, whose purchasers typically assume they are buying pure beef.