In one of those very British quirks, the Zoo Licensing Act applies in Great Britain (England, Wales & Scotland) but Northern Ireland has its own regulations. I presume that these are in line with the EU Zoos Directive, but do not include reference to the Secretary of State’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice or the Zoos Expert Committee Handbook. These documents include much more detail than the Act and provide guidelines for both zoo managers and zoo inspectors, such as the recommendation that pinnipeds and penguins should be kept in salt water pools (except, of course, for Baikal seals).
I have never visited Belfast and so I cannot make any judgement about the zoo: but I think that many of the points made by EAZA would have had to be sorted out in the past, if the zoo were subject to the same inspection regime as the other major British zoos.
