Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Martin Haydon said he expected to publish a new national animal welfare strategy in the second half of the year.
Minister It was previously mentioned in March The strategy was due in the second quarter of the year.
It appears that this timeline will now not be met, and the strategy is now expected to be published sometime during the second six months of the year.
In response to a number of parliamentary questions on the issue, Minister Haydon noted that the latest Animal Welfare Strategy – which was also the first in the country – had expired at the end of 2025.
Over the past year, the process of developing a new Animal Welfare Strategy has begun, which Minister Haydon said will serve as a framework for engagement and collaboration “to guide future activities with the aim of benefiting animals and Irish society”.
According to the minister, the development of this new strategy is “now underway.”
The formulation of the strategy follows stakeholder engagement, including a non-statutory public consultation, which launched on 19 November and continued until 2 January.
Minister Haydon noted that over 1,750 individual applications had been received as part of this process.
“Moving to the drafting stage, my ministry is working on the issues arising from these consultations and other related issues,” he said.
According to the minister, the new strategy will continue to adopt the “one health, one well-being” approach.
This involves “recognizing and assessing the interdependence between human, animal and environmental health, and taking an evidence-based approach to policy-making, target setting, monitoring and evaluation.”
“I expect the new strategy to be published in the second half of 2026,” Minister Haydon said.
Animal kindness
Speak when The consultation on the new strategy was announced last NovemberMinister Haydon said: “Animal welfare is a topic of great importance to society as a whole and to all those responsible for animals, including the farming sector and pet owners.
He added: “As a modern European society, we are bound by evolving standards regarding how society values and treats all animals.”
