Animal Welfare
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Barry Ward (FG), Dún Laoghaire

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29