THE ISPCA’S NEW STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2023-2027 aligned with Government, to Protect all Animals in Ireland
- The strategy outlines the ISPCA’s vision for the next five years which is to ensure all animals are loved, respected, protected and treated with kindness.
- The Strategy sets out the pathway for the ISPCA to achieve its three goals of, preventing cruelty to animals, protecting vulnerable animals and prosecuting all those who break Irish animal welfare law.
Wednesday, 29 March 2023: The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) today launched its new Strategic Framework 2023-2027 with a vision to ensure all animals are loved, respected, protected and treated with kindness.
This is inline with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine vision that Ireland promotes and safeguards the welfare of all animals.
Covid-19 changed all aspects of our daily lives and has had a profound impact on the life, health and welfare of animals too. The Covid-19 crisis initially had a positive impact on animal welfare, including many animal adoptions. However, when restrictions were lifted, another change in lifestyles caused a significant increase in pets being returned into shelter care, as well as a noticeable reduction in adopting and fostering. This strategy is a direct response to the challenges faced by animals and animal welfare issues post Covid-19. It sets the way forward in achieving the ISPCA’s mission to prevent cruelty to animals and to ensure that animals in Ireland enjoy a quality of life representative of any humane society.
The Strategy sets out the pathway for the ISPCA to achieve its three goals of preventing cruelty to animals, protecting vulnerable animals and prosecuting all those who break Irish animal welfare law. It is informed by the strong inspectorate and education functions of the ISPCA and underpinned by robust corporate governance structures. The strategy commits the ISPCA to regularly monitor and review our processes and to take into account environmental impact, risk management, organisational resilience, stakeholder relationships, employee capacity, and engagement with the public and the various communities and regions we operate in in order to achieve our ambitions.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue when launching the Strategy congratulated the ISPCA on the new strategy saying:
“I am delighted to be here today to launch the ISPCA’s new Strategic Framework. As the biggest national animal welfare organisation in Ireland, the ISPCA is at the forefront of preventing cruelty to animals and I want to commend them on their remarkable work to date. The Department is fully supportive of the ISPCA its efforts and its statutory powers. The development and implementation of this plan will continue to build on the solid foundation of trust that the ISPCA has with all stakeholders. The ISPCA provides a voice for all animals and their work ensures that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated. I welcome this new Strategy today and my department looks forward to working with the ISPCA over the coming years in order to deliver upon their ambition.”
Speaking on the launch of the Strategy, Ms. Kerry-Anne Pollock, Chair of the ISPCA Board said:
“We are firmly focused on providing a voice for animals right across the country. A number of ambitious objectives are set over the term of this strategic plan, including the expansion of the inspectorate service, further investment in our three existing animal centres, as well the addition of two new ones.”
Key focus areas for 2023-2027 include:
- Expanding education and advocacy services across the country supported by our partners developing out our animal welfare education offering
- Enhancing a range of animal welfare services throughout Ireland, the target is to double our capacity across operations
- Increase our Inspectorate’s capacity to support the increase in actual and forecasted demand for our services
- Adding to our skillset to support the increase in cases we will put forward to prosecute, ensuring the enforcement of legislation
- Advocate on behalf of all species of animal and their specific needs.
- Further enhance our rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming capabilities through operational improvements, technology enablement and challenging ourselves to strive to continuously improve
- Continue to build & nurture our relationships with our existing affiliated members & new ones that we engage over the term
- Ensure the foundations of what do, is pivoted on a solid Governance Framework to which we always hold ourselves to account
Commenting further on the Strategy, Dr Cyril Sullivan, CEO of the ISPCA said:
“Our principal ambition is to ensure that all animals in Ireland can live their best life, always. The delivery of our strategic goals and objectives will be achieved in conjunction with our key stakeholders: the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, our staff and volunteers, Local Authorities, our corporate partners and our member organisations. We would not be able to deliver on this strategy without their invaluable and continuous support. We want to thank them all for their support to date and the ISPCA look forward to working closely with these essential partners deliver on the organisation’s strategic priorities and objectives.”
A copy of the Strategic Framework 2023-2027 can be found here.
The ISPCA encourages members of the public to continue to report any animal welfare concerns to the ISPCA’s National Animal Cruelty Helpline in confidence on 0818 515 515, email [email protected] or report online here. Together we can prevent cruelty to all animals.