{"id":197553,"date":"2025-12-18T02:19:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T02:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/197553\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T02:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T02:19:07","slug":"fianna-fail-fine-gael-sinn-fein-oppose-bill-to-ban-fox-hunting-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/197553\/","title":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il, Fine Gael, Sinn F\u00e9in oppose Bill to ban fox hunting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a>, Fine Gael<\/a> and Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> have opposed legislation introduced by People Before Profit Solidarity<\/a> TD Ruth Coppinger<\/a> to ban foxhunting and the D\u00e1il<\/a> voted against it on Wednesday night by 124 votes to 24.<\/p>\n

Ms Coppinger said it was \u201cironic that the three big parties in the D\u00e1il that profess to be nationalist maintain this when it has been banned in the UK for over 20 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Describing fox hunting as \u201cbarbarism\u201d, she said \u201cthere is overwhelming opposition\u201d to it in Ireland, pointing to a survey showing 73 per cent of people rejected it and just 12 per cent expressed support. <\/p>\n

Green Party<\/a> leader Roderic O\u2019Gorman<\/a> said: \u201cThere is simply no justifiable reason for this State to permit the hunting and killing of foxes with dogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a reasonable method to control the fox population. It is not, as some have argued, a means of protecting biodiversity and it is not an intrinsic part of rural life in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposing the Bill, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon<\/a> said hunting \u201coperates under clear codes of conduct, licensing, welfare standards and full insurance requirements\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cFoxes are not a protected species under the wildlife Acts in Ireland and it is legal to hunt foxes.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Minister said it was not a \u201cbinary choice between being with us or against us\u201d. To adopt this position \u201cis deeply cynical and exploitative and it allows the serious issue of animal welfare to be used as a Trojan horse for a more divisive agenda\u201d. <\/p>\n

It was \u201cdeeply emotive\u201d but \u201cfox hunting represents a long-held tradition and is a part of a way of life for those involved. <\/p>\n

He said people were employed in this sector and \u201cit is entirely disproportionate to try to make criminals of these people overnight for engaging in an activity that, in many cases, stretches back generations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in agriculture spokesman Martin Kenny<\/a> said Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s position is decided at its ardfheis. The \u201cvast majority of people\u201d recognise \u201cthat this is something that has been there for a very long time\u201d. <\/p>\n

His party colleague R\u00e9ada Cronin<\/a> said, however, she would continue to attempt to change her party\u2019s position at its ardfheis, but \u201cevery politician has days when their personal beliefs collide with their obligations as a party member\u201d.<\/p>\n

She believed fox hunting is \u201cabhorrent, cruel, savage and barbaric with no regard for animal welfare\u201d but added \u201cas a member of a political party I\u2019m not a solo act\u201d and she was bound by the party whip.<\/p>\n

Labour<\/a>\u2019s Ged Nash<\/a> supported the legislation and said \u201cfox hunting is an anachronistic and inherently cruel practice that belongs to a past defined by hierarchy, elitism, exclusion, imperialism and the routine acceptance of animal suffering\u201d. There is \u201cnothing republican about fox hunting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Social Democrats spokeswoman Jennifer Whitmore said Mr Heydon had criticised people calling for a ban who had \u201cnever met anyone who has been on a hunt or, indeed, seen a hunt themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI don\u2019t need to go on a hunt to know it\u2019s cruel\u201d or to go to a bullfight, dogfight or to see badger baiting to know they were cruel. <\/p>\n

She said it was not an urban versus rural debate. Rural people who had contacted her wanting it banned included a sheep farmer in Cashel who said \u201cthe days of having large numbers of horses galloping through farmland in the wettest months of the year are long gone, and that fox hunting as a means of curtailing the population is a fallacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Wicklow constituent told her a hunt passed through their local area and the hounds entered their garden. \u201cThey split apart and savaged their beloved little dog.\u201d <\/p>\n

Minister of State for Agriculture Michael Healy-Rae<\/a> supported the Bill, however, and said: \u201cWhether it is hunters, shooters or whoever takes out the fox, I appreciate them for that. Farmers appreciate them for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a friend had 13 hens, and one evening came home and 12 were gone. His son Dan \u201chad 18 lambs taken this year in the springtime by the foxes\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il, Fine Gael and Sinn F\u00e9in have opposed legislation introduced by People Before Profit Solidarity TD Ruth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15049,895,3775,44788,8934,42,100080,6189,22479,105046,24878,43,43923,105045,3582,59995,3415,1419,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-197553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-dail-eireann","9":"tag-fianna-fail","10":"tag-fine-gael","11":"tag-ged-nash","12":"tag-green-party","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-jennifer-whitmore","15":"tag-labour-party","16":"tag-martin-heydon","17":"tag-martin-kenny","18":"tag-michael-healy-rae","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-people-before-profit-solidarity-pbps","21":"tag-reada-cronin","22":"tag-roderic-o-gorman","23":"tag-ruth-coppinger","24":"tag-sinn-fein","25":"tag-social-democrats","26":"tag-top-news","27":"tag-top-stories","28":"tag-topnews","29":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}