Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Discussions on the strategic reviews and strategic plans are the place to tease out all of these matters. RCÉ will present a new strategic plan in the first quarter of next year. It will engage with me and the team on this. All issues should be considered as part of this. It is important that the strategy we have is robust and makes sense for the country and that the welfare of animals is central to it. There is the idea there are no reviews and the Senator is saying there should be reviews. This is being assessed all the time and rightly assessed. Part of this is the discussion we are having today. Part of it is the engagement the committee had with RCÉ and HRI. It is important when public funding is being put into bodies that there is good engagement, oversight and planning. This planning does takes place and gets a lot of attention and detail, and rightly so. We want to see both sectors grow and improve, see the funding we provide being well spent and having a real economic dividend, and ensure, central to all of this, that the welfare of animals is a top priority.