Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

Giving up the power to licence an activity is a strange way to go about dealing with that activity. The original Act had the conservation of wildlife as its stated purpose. The Minister's approach is very divisive, with an all-out ban of an activity that has gone on for 150 years.

The Minister has also failed to address ancillary activities, such as the fallen animals service provided by the Ward Union Hunt. What will happen to the herd of deer that belongs to the Ward Union Hunt? It is an ecosystem in itself; it is a herd and surely the Minister would want to protect it.

This has been a divisive discussion. The Minister does not recognise, because the Green Party is so small perhaps, that there are different views on this issue, with people on either side of the argument and people in the middle. That was always the case, and across the political spectrum that is the reality. That is why the Green Party has turned its guns on the Labour Party, because it was not sure it could bring its Government partners along with it. The Labour Party is a broad church with mixed views on the issue and we have tried to accommodate them. That is how society functions and it is the approach Deputy Michael D. Higgins took when he was Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, speaking to all sides, monitoring and inspecting the hunt, and introducing a strict licensing regime. Progress was made as a result and all sides came on board.

There are no principles involved in this. It is not my principle to ban stag hunting or the Ward Union Hunt; my principles are about free education and similar issues. People were shot in my constituency today and that is where the gardaí should be focusing their attention, not on an issue like this, where there is all sorts of regulation. That is not our priority and it should not be the priority for the Government right now.

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