Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 18 May 2000

Vol. 519 No. 4

Written Answers. - Grant Aid.

Ivor Callely

Question:

42 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the level of funding and support available from his Department to the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for each of the years 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999; his understanding of the work of the society and the projects pending funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13744/00]

The level of financial assistance provided by my Department to the DSPCA for the years in question is as follows: –

£

1996

50,000

1997

100,000

1998

60,000

1999

35,000

My Department also provided £50,000 to the DSPCA in 1995, bringing the total amount of assistance over the last five years to £295,000.
I am aware of the excellent animal welfare work carried out by the DSPCA in Dublin city and county over many years. The society plays a most important role, not alone in directly tending animals which are distressed, ill, injured or abandoned, but in many instances in providing the owners of companion animals with practical advice, assistance and reassurance. Organisations such as the DSPCA also play a valuable role in educating the public in the practical care and welfare of animals.
I am pleased that, in addition to helping the DSPCA to generally maintain its operations, the funding provided by my Department over the past five years has also enabled the society to purchase and equip a mobile clinic, to purchase a four-wheel drive vehicle for pulling horse boxes, to upgrade its telephone and computer systems, and to continue to provide the mobile animal clinics and a horse ambulance service in and around Dublin.
The Deputy may be aware that the DSPCA is one of more than 20 organisations throughout the country which deliver animal care and welfare services which have received grant assistance from my Department since 1995. Such assistance has been contingent on funding being available to my Department at the end of each of the years in question.
Top
Share