Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to meet groups that are interested in animal welfare, which is an important area. I accept it is not ideal that responsibility for this matter is spread across three Departments. There were discussions with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on foot of the public consultation process. There is a lot of co-ordination and collaboration across Government Departments. As I have mentioned in this House previously, my family got a small rescue dog, Ciara, from the Madra dog rescue centre in Galway. Madra, which does great work, is inundated with volunteers who organise hugely impressive initiatives to raise funds for the centre. The local authorities and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine provide funding towards the end of the year to a number of animal rescue organisations that care for dogs, cats and other animals. I am happy to meet interested groups.

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