Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but if a journalist, for example, is seeking to expose an industry, should he or she be allowed to record a dog fight? I would have thought so. We do not want vigilantism but if we are serious about stamping out this element of animal cruelty, then we should allow journalists to expose it and clearly, if the gardaí want to do it, they must be able to. We should be sending out a signal that animal fighting is against the law and that if someone helps to expose it, either from a media or prosecution point of view, his or her actions will not be illegal. If there are concerns with that, I will happily try to accommodate them but I believe the balance is fine at the moment.