Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

That is fine.

Before we progress any further with this Bill, I would like to invite the Minister, and anyone else who is interested, to come to Meath, as other Deputies have done, and join me on a Ward Union hunt day. People need to see for themselves what this is about. I mean this invitation with all my heart. People can see for themselves how important it is to the people involved. I have no doubt the Minister would be greatly impressed by how humanely the animals are treated and how much care, attention and effort is put into looking after those animals.

What was really fascinating that day and it is something the people do not seem to realise, is that the deer and the hounds live together in the same yard. When the deer was put into the trailer in our presence, one would imagine he would have been fretting or worried or concerned because of the heavy barking of the hounds who were being gathered up in the yard beside him but he passed no remarks on them. Why did he pass no remarks? It is because he lives with them and beside them every day. This idea of the deer being all in a sweat in the trailer is simply not the reality.

The Minister would be pleasantly surprised as indeed were we. I am a lifelong supporter of the Ward Union Hunt but I had not been to its kennels until this year in company with the Deputies from the area. We visited the kennels before we discussed this Bill and decided to speak on it. We were pleasantly surprised and I know the Minister would be pleasantly surprised with what he would see in the Ward Union Hunt kennels. The hunt is a traditional rural pursuit and it is not as one might perceive it. It is a significant employer and is a contributor to the culture of rural Ireland and it has a very important place in my community.

See this speech in context