John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

If the Deputy has a domesticated animal at home and if a number of people came to him and said they wanted to hunt that animal down with hounds and people on horseback, I believe he would be rightly outraged, even if they said they would give the animal back to him in one piece. That animal would be running for its life, and the deer in Meath is running for its life. That is unacceptable and uncivilised.

I reiterate that the Bill as published has two main purposes: to ban the practice of hunting deer with a pack of hounds and to increase the various fines for wildlife related offences. As I have outlined, I will bring forward an amendment on Committee Stage to resolve the issues of licences to shoot wild game.

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