Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

It was a scare tactic. In a liberal society people who get into a car take a risk. The Deputy is saying that for some reason people who hunt animals for commercial purposes across roadways are taking their lives in their hands and that people coming around the bend on the road will run into those animals. He failed to tell the people that this activity is happening under strict licensing conditions and monitoring, and that the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government are supervising it on behalf of the State to make sure it is appropriate. They cannot do that when cows are crossing the road.

We see that all the tenuous arguments trotted out to sustain an ideological argument are nothing more than ideology. It has nothing to do with the practical implementation of these matters but more to do with the zealousness by which the Minister wants to pursue a narrow political and ideological agenda.

The Ward Union stag hunt is the only licensed one in the Republic of Ireland. Hunting deer has a long history dating from the 19th century. The hunting area comprises north County Dublin together with south and east Meath. Hunting takes place infrequently two days a week during the season from November to March each year. The Ward Union Hunt maintains its own herd of 150 Irish red deer. If the legislation is approved, what does the Minister intend to do with this herd?

The union hunts stags are not generally killed but are recaptured and returned to the herd. The Ward Union hunt has been required to apply for a licence annually since 1977 from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Each stag in the herd is hunted once a year and is supervised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government wildlife officers and veterinarians. The health of the stag is checked before and after the hunt and stress levels are recorded.

This is a system that takes account of animal welfare in a serious way and with which no one has had a problem until the Minister decided to think otherwise. The Ward Union Hunt has 200 members and contributes €1.4 million annually to the economy. Research carried out by NUI Galway indicates the enormous contribution made by field sports and rural pursuits to the economy.

There is an anti-rural bias to the Minister's agenda. He has displayed this at protest marches over the years and there are plenty of photographs to show it.

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