Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has today (Wednesday, November 19) launched a public consultation on the development of a new animal welfare strategy for 2026 to 2030.

The six-week consultation process, which will run until January 2, 2026, will allow the public and all interested stakeholders, including farming interests and animal welfare groups, to provide feedback to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

It is expected that the new Animal Health and Welfare Strategy will be launched next year.

Animal welfare

Minister Heydon launched the consultation in the Mount Venus, Rathfarnham facility of the newly formed National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA).

"Animal welfare is a topic of huge importance, to society as a whole and to all those responsible for animals, including the farming sector and pet owners.

"As a modern European society, we are bound by evolving norms with respect to how society values and treats all animals.

"The bar in this respect continues to rise, and as a country we are on a positive upward trajectory, but I want to hear from all interested parties as to how our next Animal Welfare Strategy can put us on a best in class footing with comparator countries whilst maintaining the progress made under the current strategy," he said.

Minister Heydon added that the "challenge of maintaining and enhancing animal welfare is wide-ranging and multi-dimensional in nature".

"Be they farmed animals, companion animals and other pets, animals engaged in sporting or leisure activities, it is of vital importance that we implement and enforce appropriate legislation, resource initiatives that enhance animal welfare, and generally continue to raise that bar, in this important area," he said.

Since the current strategy was adopted in 2020, Minister Heydon said there has been "significant progress", including:

Funding to animal welfare charities increased from €2.4 million to over €6 million to over 100 organisations in 2023 and again in 2024;
Introduction of a ban on fur farming;
The Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Council (FAWAC) has been relaunched;
Establishment of the first chair in animal welfare and veterinary ethics at University College Dublin (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine;
Ongoing and continued mainstreaming of the “One Health, One Welfare” approach in policy formulation and informing research;
Establishment of a new, independently chaired Advisory Council on Companion Animal Welfare (ACAW).

Minister Heydon said that funding to qualifying animal welfare charities for 2025 would be confirmed "in the near future".

It is anticipated that funding will be maintained broadly at its 2025 level of €6 million in 2026.

The minister also confirmed local authorities will continue to be resourced into next year to retain or acquire dog wardens. The allocation for 2026 is expected to be around €2 million.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the public consultation can send feedback or submissions to [email protected] or in hard copy to Public Consultation Feedback, Animal Welfare Division, Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Kildare St, Dublin 2, D02WK12.