Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 May 2026
416. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine whether the new animal welfare strategy due in Q2 2026 will include measurable targets for complaint handling, investigation timelines, seizure action, prosecution rates, data publication, and inter-agency cooperation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33643/26]
View answerThe term of Ireland’s first ever Animal Welfare Strategy 2021-2025 - Working Together for Animal Welfare reached a conclusion at the end of 2025.
In 2025, a process was initiated to develop a new animal welfare strategy, which will act as a framework for engagement and collaboration to direct future activities with the aim of benefiting both animals and Irish society.
Development of the strategy is now well underway following broad stakeholder engagement including a non-statutory public consultation that was launched on November 19th and ran to January 2nd. In excess of 1750 individual submissions were received as part of that process.
In moving to the drafting stage, my Department will work through the issues arising from this consultation and other issues in this area, both from a National and International (particularly EU) perspective, as a final document evolves for publication, anticipated in Q2 2026.
The new strategy will continue to adopt a ‘One Health, One Welfare’ approach, acknowledging and valuing the inter-dependencies between human, animal and environmental health, and taking an evidence-led approach to policy making, target-setting, monitoring and evaluation.
