Dáil debates

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

5:00 pm

Photo of Pat RabbittePat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The question is whether any agency of the State takes responsibility for this issue. I raised the matter with the county manager in south Dublin some time ago. Horses are regularly being subjected to cruelty and there are, as Deputy Upton stated, two horse corpses in a field adjacent to Fonthill railway station. Somebody should intervene because everybody is dodging the issue. I do not want to make a political point.

The Taoiseach indicated to me about three weeks ago that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is bringing proposals to Cabinet for a referendum to excise the reference to blasphemy in the Constitution. I asked the Minister about this during the subsequent Question Time and while I will not say he sought to resile from that position, he certainly left the impression that rather than being a commitment to having a referendum to excise the reference to blasphemy, his statement fell more into the category of the late Seamus Brennan's dictum that whatever one does, one should put out something on a Sunday. Does the Government propose to hold such a referendum and, if so, when will it take place?

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