Debate contribution: Improvements in Animal Welfare
Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on .
- MLA
- Mr Andrew Muir
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 20 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Improvements in Animal Welfare
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5798654
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The independent review of regulations on dog breeding establishments has been published. A public consultation on phase 1 of the proposals for implementation will be launched in the coming months. I will be bringing forward legislation that will ban specific aversive training devices such as electric shock collars. It is important that I get swift Executive approval for that so that I can bring the legislation to the Assembly. I will bring that to the Executive very soon. Other interventions are planned, such as enhancements to micro-chipping requirements. My Department participated in UK-wide consultations on the phasing out of cages for laying hens and on improving lamb castration and tail-docking practices. I have agreed that Northern Ireland should join a forthcoming UK-wide consultation on phasing out over three years the CO2 stunning of pigs.
134 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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