14. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding the increase in funding for animal welfare groups as committed to in the programme for Government; if multi-annual funding can be considered to allow for longer-term planning by these groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6000/26]

Sentiment score: 0.22

We can all recognise the importance of animal welfare groups and the work that they do. I particularly welcome the increase in funding to them, to €6.5 million, in accordance with the commitment in the programme for Government. The 94 groups which will benefit from that do incredibly important work. Can we, however, put a bit of certainty in place for organisations like that? Multi-annual funding allows them to plan more into the future and increase the quality of the work they do, for example to provide support for the Minister's Department in prosecutions under the animal welfare Acts. Can we provide that multi-annual funding and that certainty for them?

Sentiment score: 0.53

I note the Minister's comments about rural Deputies raising issues here but I agree with him that agricultural issues and animal welfare issues are not just for rural Deputies. There are farms in the Dún Laoghaire constituency. I am a member of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA. They are mostly drystock farms in the south west of the constituency but agriculture affects everybody and it is important. Animal welfare is something that is very close to my heart. As a barrister I prosecuted animal welfare offences for the Minister's Department in the past. I worked with organisations like the ISPCA and the DSPCA which did incredible work supporting the Minister's Department in bringing those prosecutions and bringing evidence in relation to them. Those are the organisations I am talking about. They are the ones that supplement the work of the Minister's Department. They carry out hugely important work to ensure there are people on the ground who are familiar with animal welfare issues and have the capacity in the context of a prosecution to help rescue those animals and present the Department with evidence so it can proceed in those prosecutions. I also acknowledge the Minister's commitment to reforming that law so that those prosecutions can be more effective.

Sentiment score: 0.21

I absolutely accept the Minister's commitment to these issues. With animal welfare, everyone in this House has something to do with animals, whether they are domestic pets or agricultural animals. I think the prosecutions in the Department focused particularly on agricultural stock, and obviously there is a food safety issue there as much as anything else, but it needs to be expanded to include domestic animals. I remember as a child getting a rescue dog. He was a cross between an Old English sheepdog and a black Labrador. We still talk about that dog and there are pictures of him in the house. These animals are so important and they are part of all of our lives. Animal welfare, as the Minister has acknowledged, is more than just the prosecution of offences that are plain. It is also about the maintenance of standards for animals, whether it is in the agricultural or the domestic context. Part of that strategy has to be about improving the standard of animal welfare across the board, and I know that it has been because I am aware of submissions that have gone into it. Reforming the system has to be about doing that but, perhaps more importantly, also funding the organisations that do it on the ground, funding the prosecutions of those who refuse to abide by the law, and ensuring that animals are safe and well in this country.

Sentiment score: 0.23