Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's legislative responsibility in the area of animal welfare extends to farmed animals only, including animals normally bred or kept for the production of food. Accordingly, matters relating to feral cats do not come within the scope of my Department. Nevertheless, my Department provides in excess of €1million annually to animal welfare organisations involved in the provision of animal care. In awarding the funding, we remind organisations involved in the rehoming of cats of the absolute necessity to ensure that all such animals are neutered before rehoming as this will assist in controlling numbers. With regard to animal welfare generally, work on drafting the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill which deals comprehensively with animal welfare is continuing in my Department and I propose to submit the Heads of the Bill to the Government shortly.