Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the funding that was made available in 2006 for animal welfare. [21416/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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An amount of €3.2 million was made available in 2006 for animal welfare activities in my Department. These activities included, for example, measures to deal with compromised on-farm animal welfare, research, the payment of ex-gratia monies to assist organisations involved in the direct delivery of animal welfare services as well as costs associated with the implementation of the Control of Horses Act.

In addition to the above, Veterinary Inspectors of my Department in their normal day-to-day duties perform a significant amount of animal welfare-related work, the cost of which while considerable would be very difficult to quantify in monetary terms.

Other funding measures coming within the welfare funding remit of my Department include the Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Council which promotes and addresses issues of animal welfare in a practical manner and which has made a significant contribution to addressing important welfare issues.