Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

They are not true.

What has caused this change to be made? We are discussing the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill but this is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. That is what is happening with the Green Party.

I asked whether the names and addresses of registered persons would be published by local authorities. I understand they will be published and open to scrutiny by the public. The question I was asked was why should people fear this. They fear it because of past experience of the activities of animal liberation activists who have terrorised people involved in hunting. The Alliance for Animal Rights, animal liberation front for fur action, protested against a furrier shop in Dublin. I will not quote the names of the people involved in the shop but in a document the protesters told them to remember that they knew where they lived, that they would make sure they would not sleep easy in their beds at night because they were watching them and that they would put a stop to their evil trade. That is just one comment and why members of the hunting fraternity who breed dogs are afraid of having their names published. They look after their dogs very well, but they are fearful, rightfully so, given comments such as this and the fact that people have been jailed in the United Kingdom for activities in support of animal liberation and animal rights. One will get rogues everywhere, but the vast majority involved in hunting look after their dogs very well. They sought an exemption because they were worried. They are in fear of what the people mentioned can do and have done in the past. It is possibly the reason Ministers gave an undertaking that they would be exempt from registration. I cannot understand why Fianna Fáil is accepting this tail-wagging exercise by the Green Party. This is a typical example of commitments being given and forgotten in the hunt.