Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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277. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress of his investigation into a reported case of suspected neglect involving a number of horses in the Briarhill area of County Galway, a number of which died; the resources allocated to the prevention of cruelty and neglect of animals in each local authority area; the number of prosecutions in each local authority area over each of the past five years, the person they were taken by and their outcome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5640/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department has organised the removal of up to 8 horses on welfare grounds from the Briarhill area of Galway city in the past month. A number of horse carcasses were also removed. None of the rescued horses or horse carcasses were microchipped and, while my Department has a policy of prosecuting for suspected cases of animal neglect and cruelty, it is not possible to bring about a successful prosecution in the absence of a microchipped horse/carcass. My Department does not have information on the questions relating to the resources allocated to the prevention of cruelty and neglect in animals and the number of prosecutions in each local authority area as these are matters to be addressed by the relevant local authorities.

My Department provides substantial financial assistance, amounting to almost €1m in 2015, to local authorities in the context of implementation of the Control of Horses’ Act by these bodies. In addition, my Department awarded grants of €2.54m last December to 140 organisations involved in safeguarding animal welfare throughout the country. Some €94,000 of these grants were awarded to animal welfare bodies based in Galway, including €40,000 to GSPCA to assist their work this year in protecting animal welfare throughout the county.