Belfast Council took DAERA to court after it stopped funding for animal welfare enforcement
Farmed puppies(Image: PSNI)
Belfast Council is telling Stormont it is “undermining” animal welfare by refusing to fund council services while introducing new laws in the city and around Northern Ireland.
Belfast Council has agreed to write to the Stormont Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs stating it is “concerned that introducing additional animal welfare responsibilities, without providing adequate resources, risks undermining both existing enforcement activity and the successful implementation of new legislation.”
The council is saying in a letter to Alliance MLA Andrew Muir, Minister for DAERA that “Animal welfare cannot be improved through regulation alone, and requires properly resourced services capable of investigating complaints, tackling illegal breeding and protecting vulnerable animals.”
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The animal welfare service within councils was fully funded, at around £1.25 million per year, by DAERA until August 2023, when the department said it was unable to continue to provide funding for councils in relation to non-farmed animal welfare services.
A judicial review was then lodged in the High Court by Belfast City Council and Fermanagh Omagh District Council on behalf of SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) against the Stormont department, to challenge its decision. The court found that there was a breach on the grounds of a “procedural legitimate expectation.”
The final court order required that before making any decision the department must give advance notice to the AERA Committee for its consideration and must notify councils once it has done so. The court order also said DAERA must reimburse the councils’ full legal costs in relation to the Judicial Review.
A Belfast Council report states: “Officers are now aware that a letter from the minister/permanent secretary was tabled at the AERA Committee on April 16 2026. The letter advised the committee that DAERA does not intend to provide funding to councils for animal welfare services in 2026/27 due to budget constraints.”
In February, Minister Muir said he would take forward legislation to require sellers and suppliers of puppies, and sellers of kittens, under six months of age, to register with their local council. The seller and supplier will be required to meet specific conditions of registration.
The council report states: “Whilst officers welcome any steps to improve animal welfare, it has been stressed to departmental officials that councils do not have the capacity to implement this legislation and therefore there needs to be appropriate assurance around the resources which will be provided to councils to deliver this additional function.
“The department has indicated that the registration scheme would be self-financing. Council officers have asked for evidence to demonstrate that would be the case. To date this additional, supporting financial information has not been provided by the department.”
Green Party Councillor Anthony Flynn spoke this week at the monthly meeting of the full Belfast City Council at City Hall about the outcome of the Judicial Review in relation to animal welfare services and new animal welfare legislation. He said: “I think it is deeply important that we actually recognise the excellent work carried out by animal welfare officers across Belfast and Northern Ireland.
“These officers deal with some of the most distressing cases of neglect, cruelty and illegal breeding, and the types of animal cruelty that exists in our community should horrify all of us.”
He added: “But what concerns me about the department’s response at the end of this case is the contradiction in its approach. On one hand the DAERA minister is talking about strengthening animal welfare legislation by introducing new registration requirements for puppy and kitten sales. This I wholeheartedly agree with, and I have fought for, for years.
“However, on the other hand the department is withdrawing funding from the very officers that are responsible for enforcing animal welfare on the ground. This follows a pattern of behaviour from Executive ministers, and particularly the DAERA minister.
“(It means) local councils, and local council officers, will have tonnes of extra responsibility, but without the resources necessary to actually deal with that responsibility. If Stormont is serious about improving animal welfare standards, it cannot continue to place additional responsibilities on councils without demonstrating those responsibilities will be properly resourced.
“We can’t continue to expect that our ratepayers in Belfast absorb those additional costs, while departments announce new schemes, without the funding to back them up. That is not good for the state of animal welfare in our city, and it is not good for our ratepayers.”
He said: “Good animal welfare standards are achieved through properly funded enforcement, through trained officers and effective regulation. Laws that cannot be enforced properly do not improve animal welfare standards in our city.”
He successfully proposed an amendment to the council’s letter to the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee at Stormont.
DUP Councillor Ruth Brooks at the meeting announced her “full agreement” with the Green Party on the matter. She said: “Issues that we really want to deal with in this city are being held back because of the amount of resources we as a council are having to put into animal welfare and our dog warden service”
She said: “We are as a council failing to get some of the basics right, because we are being asked to do so much, but if we are going to tackle these issues, we can’t be left as sole funders. There has to be funds that come from DAERA.”
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