Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA)

Lobbying Organisation Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Date published 19 Sep, 2025

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Agriculture

Period 1 May, 2025 to 31 Aug, 2025

Specific Details DAFM emergency funding

Intended results Confirmation of a once off grant

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Pete Wedderburn, Chair of the Board of the ISPCA

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Meeting (1)

Meeting on July 16th in follow up to previous meetings, at Agriculture House, Kildare St, Dublin 2. Agenda included ISPCA/DSPCA merger and need for a grant, essential for the merger to move forward. Subsequently provided details to DAFM as to the use of the once off grant in the amount of €750k. Worth noting ISPCA provides an invaluable service to the Department requesting consideration when deciding on advance. Meeting attendees were Pete Wedderburn (Board Chair) & Pat Watt (CEO DSPCA)

Email (2-5)

ISPCA Board Chair, Pete Wedderburn provided updates to DAFM via email on 14.05.25 & again on 30.07.25. Emailed Mary McCarthy, Mairead Cooney, Martin Heydon, Micheal Martin, Simon Harris and Geraldine Corcoran. Response on 1.08.25 from DAFM CVO requesting business plan for merger and option to fund new organisation

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Mairead Cooney Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Mary McCarthy Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Simon Harris Tánaiste and Minister (Department of Defence)

Martin Heydon Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)