Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Northern Ireland Assembly am 3:15 pm ar 17 Mehefin 2024.
I thank the Member for her question. It is an important issue. I am conscious of the challenges that I have in the Department, but I will not focus on those: I will focus on what I want to do on that issue. I want to take forward a significant range of policies and legislation, but I want to take a new approach to animal welfare. It is important that I set it out today. I want to engage with stakeholders through a process of co-design, so that, together, we can agree the way forward. We have fallen behind in Northern Ireland on protections against animal cruelty. Whilst we are taking action in this first year through the Pet Abduction Act 2024, taking forward Lucy's law and other measures, there is a lot more that we need to do. I will engage in that process with stakeholders as we shape a new way forward to improve protections against animal cruelty. Nothing is off the table. Everything is up for discussion, including a register of animal cruelty offenders. I want to consider that and the issue of penalties, which we talked about. I am very keen to explore that. I want to sit in the room and work with stakeholders to prioritise the way ahead. My Department wants to work with people to get the strongest protections against animal cruelty here in Northern Ireland.