St. Francis dispensary, caring for Dublin's Pets

We offer veterinary care for the pets of those Dubliners who have difficulty in meeting the full cost of treatment, irrespective of their location, giving a very comprehensive service including the provision of veterinary medicine and advice. In return we expect a donation to be discussed reflecting the scope of treatment provided.

We provide this service in a discreet manner and we aim to be "animal" focused and hence we work with a number of organisations who are engaged in animal rescue as part of our role in animal welfare. We hope through our services to increase awareness of responsible pet ownership.

We could not continue this work without the support of those who volunteer their services as helpers and we appreciate greatly those who are currently helping us, whilst seeking others. It is a demanding work with increased numbers presenting to our clinic but rewarding, those interested can contact us at the dispensary or 041/9847881.

		When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble. The Buddha (6th century BC).
		We offer veterinary care for the pets of those Dubliners who have difficulty in meeting the full cost of treatment, irrespective of their location, giving a very comprehensive service including the provision of veterinary medicine and advice. In return we expect a donation to be discussed reflecting the scope of treatment provided. We provide this service in a discreet manner and we aim to be "animal" focused and hence we work with a number of organisations who are engaged in animal rescue as part of our role in animal welfare. We hope through our services to increase awareness of responsible pet ownership. We could not continue this work without the support of those who volunteer their services as helpers and we appreciate greatly those who are currently helping us, whilst seeking others. It is a demanding work with increased numbers presenting to our clinic but rewarding, those interested can contact us at the dispensary or 041/9847881.








		We have worked with a number of local secondary schools in providing work experience to their students during transition year, which has proven very successful, many of whom had family pets. It has been agreed with the schools that we will continue this cooperation in 2009/2010. The current year presents new challenges to the dispensary with rising un-employment and the global financial problems, increased numbers are finding it difficult to meet veterinary costs thus seeking assistance from us.
		We shall endeavour to address this by ensuring that our operation is managed efficiently, currently we are reviewing our drug costs, but have to accept that our investment income, as many charities, will decline this year due to the turmoil on financial markets. We would greatly appreciate the assistance of individuals and/ or groups who could assist us in fund raising to meet this shortfall, whilst welcoming donations/bequests from animal lovers and those who support animal welfare objectives. Being an eligible charity all donations in excess of €250 attract tax relief under Section 848A Taxes Consolidation Act 1987. Notwithstanding these difficulties we continue to improve our service, having introduced a morning clinic from 9am - 1 pm on Wednesdays to facilitate those for whatever reason, find it inconvenient to attend evening clinics. We also include in this morning session a period for the care and treatment of animals suffering from diabetes, monitoring and advising. Following the resignation of our former veterinary surgeon, our operation was restructured in March 2008, with the appointment of Mr Tomasz Grabowski a highly skilled veterinary surgeon from Poland, who had undertaken post graduate studies in Munich University in Germany and is currently working on his PhD. In conjunction with his appointment Ms Edel Burke was engaged as a Veterinary nurse whilst Mr Walmsley was retained part time with responsibilities for administration/management. Following legislation which became effective from July 1st, 2008 all veterinary establishments had to be registered with the Irish Veterinary Council, which required us to update our facilities. In conjunction with this we also invested in new operating and diagnostic equipment. We acknowledge the efforts of our committee member Ms. Laura Mulligan and those who assisted her, in raising part of the funds expended, through their fund raising. With the introduction of extended clinic hours the number of surgical procedures has been increased to 15/16 per week, these covering a wide range of procedures including orthopaedic. This additional activity together with a Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food grant received in 2009, which is acknowledged with thanks, despite "once off" recruitment and other costs, resulted in the dispensary returning a surplus for the period. Our Audited Accounts will shortly be available for this period and they together with our Report thereon, are available on request from our Secretary and will be laid before our Annual General Meeting on a date to be announced in September 2009.



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