Family’s third Streak of luck on RTE show
ISPCA appeals for more resources in bid to tackle huge rise in cases
Winning Streak A MAN is set to follow in his family’s footsteps for their third Winning Streak appearance.
Liam Breslin will take part in the National Lottery game show on Saturday – just six years after his wife featured.
The Kilkenny man comes from a lucky line of Lotto players as his father also appeared on the RTE One show in 1994.
Mr Breslin will appear on the show to represent his wife Claire who claimed €63,000 in 2013.
She attributes her lucky streak to her ritual of only posting scratch cards from a post box in Donegal.
Mr Breslin said he was so shocked at the news of the family’s hat-trick he didn’t believe his sister-inlaw when she told him. THE number of animal cruelty cases in Ireland continues to increase, figures have revealed.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said yesterday it received 17,338 calls for help last year.
And just 18 prosecutions were resolved in the courts in 2018.
The figure is up on the previous year which saw 16,211 calls received.
The data showed the society carried out 3,494 investigations with 1,102 animals seized or surrendered and taken into their care.
ISPCA chief inspector Conor Dowling said: “We have never been busier or under so much pressure and our resources are dangerously stretched.
“There are many areas in Ireland we are currently unable to reach so we need to expand our inspectorate.”
A total of 86,549 calls have been received by the ISPCA helpline since 2014, the year in which the Animal Health and introduced.
A total of 5,147 animals have been seized or surrendered over the past five years and ISPCA inspectors have been involved with 64 prosecutions for animal cruelty which have been successfully resolved in court.
The organisation said despite being disappointed with the penalties imposed in some cases, it was happy to see a Welfare
Malnourished boxer dog Act 2013 was three-year prison term being handed down to Carlow man Jim Kavanagh, who pleaded guilty last October to 30 charges of animal cruelty.
It was the biggest case in the ISPCA’S history and involved the removal of 340 dogs and 11 horses.
Mr Dowling said: This particular case highlighted in the report was almost four years coming to a conclusion.
“The events of that week are still fresh in the memories of all those who witnessed those scenes. Never in my 20 years’ service have I seen such extreme suffering on such a scale.
“We discovered a number of dead animals scattered around the property, some of which were used to feed dogs.
“It was just harrowing. Although there was an appeal against the severity of the sentence it was dismissed and the original sentence was upheld.
“The ISPCA felt that this outcome was appropriate.”
The charity added that despite great progress being made, it could do a lot more if it had sufficient resources.
The organisation is appealing to the Government and the public for more funding to help fight animal cruelty.
It currently costs around €50,000 to keep an ISPCA inspector on the road including vehicle and veterinary costs, administrative support and salary.