Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister’s reply is very much like a previous one he gave me. The codes of practice for the Hunting Association of Ireland are voluntary. Therefore it does not have to abide by them. The Minister says the Department has been in contact with the association, which said it would review and update this area, but we have not seen any real changes to date. I accept that there does not appear to have been any encroachment recently, as the Minister said.

For hunts to take place in an area, they rely on the "express or implied" permission to be on land. I understand that the Minister was going to approach the association to remove the word "implied" so that hunts will need express permission to be on somebody's land. Hunts are encroaching on land whose owners do not want them. That is not to mention encroachment on housing estates where, as the Minister knows, a dog was killed by the hunt in a collision and somebody's pet was also killed.

As the Minister said, the Act also prohibits the pursuit of animals "released in an injured, mutilated or exhausted condition". When the hunt comes out and the dogs are in a frenzy to get after the fox, they do not know if that fox has been injured or mutilated. It is a very loose area. The Minister spoke about the fine but the one fine in Macroom of €1,000 between more ten people was like a slap on the wrist.

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