John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

Some people have contacted me to say there is now a blanket issue of hunting licences, whether or not it is required or whether a person is entitled to it on lawful grounds and so on. Will people who had a conviction and lost their licence under the Wildlife Acts now automatically get back their licence under these new provisions? The Minister needs to clarify these issues, but overall we welcome the fact the Bill is before the House. When our legislation came was brought in, both the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party cynically tried to use it to embarrass the Government of the day. We are not going down that road now, but it is important that the consolidation of the wildlife legislation be brought forward from 2014, which seems to be a long time away.

This has been a very emotive issue in recent years and perhaps that will happen again when we consolidate the legislation. While there is a gun club in every parish and half parish, some of them are involved in different aspects of the sport. I do not know if the Minister has visited the Wexford Slobs since he took office, but I think he should do so.

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