The Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA)

Lobbying Organisation The Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Date published 19 Jan, 2026

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Agriculture

Period 1 May, 2025 to 31 Aug, 2025

Specific Details Support for the establishment of a National SPCA

Intended results Support from the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine for the establishment of a National SPCA through the merger of the ISPCA with the DSPCA by way of Asset transfer, and additional one-off Department funding to offset some of the financial costs including infrastructure investment.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Pete Wedderburn, Chair of ISPCA. Pat Watt, CEO of DSPCA

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 (2-5)

Initial meeting held 16/07/25 in Dept of Ag to discuss the financial challenges of ISPCA, and the recommended solution of a merger of the ISPCA with the DSPCA by way of Asset Transfer to create one financially secure National SPCA. 2nd meeting held with the Dept on 5/08/25 to review the proposed plan from the DSPCA to establish the NSPCA including assoc. costs and financial implications for the merged org. Inc. discussions on request for one off funding from Dept to support the est. of NSPCA.

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.

James Choiseul Head of Agricultural Laboratories (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)