Vol. 489 No. 2
110 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will report on the recent meeting between his Department and the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; and the steps, if any, he will take to enable funding to be made available to the society from his Department or from lottery funding. [7713/98]
; Officials of my Department met representatives of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in early March to discuss the future financing of the society. It was agreed that the society would revert to the Department by mid-year with its own analysis of its financial outlook to the year 2000. I expect that further discussions will be held once such analysis is to hand.
As regards lottery funding, I would refer the Deputy to the reply by the Minister for Finance on 6 November 1997 to a parliamentary question regarding entitlements to and arrangements for such funding (Official Report, vol. 482, col. 996).
My Department has, of course. assisted the DSPCA to the extent of £200,000 since 1995. Indeed the largest single grant to date by my Department to DSPCA was made as recently as December last and amounted to £100.000.
