Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The Minister likes to get publicity and is interested in getting his name and photograph in the newspapers. There is plenty of evidence to show his narrow political pursuit on these matters.

Fine Gael believes the hunt plays an important cultural and economic role in rural Ireland, something I would not expect the Green Party to appreciate or understand. With the Green Party in Government there is no guarantee that this ban does not represent the thin edge of the wedge with more country pursuits to be banned in the following months and years. In Opposition and as part of its election manifesto in the last general election, the Green Party was committed to stopping live animal exports, a matter with which Deputy Sargent would be very familiar.

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