John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

-----senior members of the party, including its current leader, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, and the former leaders, Deputy Pat Rabbitte and Deputy Ruarí Quinn, publicly stated their opposition to blood sports, including stag hunting. It is all on the record. Now, in a complete U-turn, the party is to vote in favour of blood sports when the wildlife Bill to ban stag hunting comes before the Houses of the Oireachtas. It is a sad day for politics in Ireland when the Labour Party decides to vote in support of the continuation of a blood sport. It appears that for the Labour Party Members, no principle is too cherished to be abandoned if they believe there are votes in it for them.

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