Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

The Labour Party opposes this legislation because it is the wrong approach to maximising the protection of wildlife. It does nothing to protect wildlife but has a much more cynical motivation. It is an all-out unilateral ban on the Ward Union Hunt and will have much further consequences for deer-stalking, for example, which the Minister alluded to in his speech.

The Minister's all-or-nothing approach to this legislation has divided communities. The Minister has done what no one else has managed by creating a divide between rural and urban communities. People in rural communities feel under threat from this legislation and are concerned it is the thin end of the wedge.

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