Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
1184. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the funding awarded to animal welfare charities in 2020, by county, name and amount of funding in tabular form; if further tranches of funding will be made available considering the major decline in fundraising due to the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1760/21]
View answerI would like to assure the Deputy that animal welfare is a high priority for my Department and considerable resources and funding are provided to address the issue. The Programme for Government contains an undertaking to provide additional funding to support animal welfare in the coming years to which I am fully committed.
In this regard, in December 2020, I announced record funding of €3.2 million to 101 animal welfare organisations throughout the country (see attached list) to assist them in their valuable work and to help offset some of the difficulties created by the Covid-19 pandemic. This represented a significant increase in the funding provided in 2019 which amounted to €2.906 million.
My Department's scheme for support to animal welfare charities in 2022 will be advertised later this year and applications from eligible organisations will be welcomed. The following link contains information on the awards made by the Department.
