Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On amendment No. 26, it would be useful if the Minister could outline to the committee that hare coursing is legally permissible and there is no proposal to ban it. The use of animals in sporting events, in other words hunting, is legally permissible. Will he explain whether the use of canines for the hunting of any animal, digging out of any wild mammal gone to ground and the use of terriers to attack and extract the wild mammal above or below ground, is legally permissible? The Bill provides that unnecessary cruelty is not permitted. Is that issue covered in the Bill? I do not agree with that particular procedure but I do not have a problem with normal hunting. Nature can be quite cruel but that appears to be going too far. If the Bill is passed, will the digging out of foxes be legally permissible, given the other terms about cruelty to animals? I thought stag hunting was banned already.