Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
1138. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the level of Departmental audits that have been performed on the use of Exchequer funding allocated to affiliate animal welfare organisations from 2018 to 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14373/22]
View answerMy Department provides funding to animal welfare charities each year. The funding is provided only to charities registered with the Charities Regulator, and subject to the requirements of Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) Circular 13/2014.
As part of a review of the animal welfare grant process, my Department's Internal Audit Unit undertook a full audit of the grant allocation process in 2021 and findings concluded that control risk is low.
In addition to the requirements laid down in circular 13/2014, all applicants for funding must provide supporting accounts dependent on their level of income as follows:
- organisations with income below €13,000 (net of DAFM contributions) must provide a statement of accounts signed and dated by an executive in the organisation showing Income and Expenditure for the most recent 12 month period;
- organisations with income between €13,000 and €100,000 must provide certified accounts
- organisations with income in excess of €100,000 must provide audited accounts
In addition, all applicant organisations are inspected by an official from the local Regional Veterinary Office as part of the grant approval process.
