Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I am sorry to dwell on this as the Minister was not involved in the promises but the party of which he is a member was involved as was his Cabinet colleague and the constituency member, but it is reasonable that I raise the issue as he is the Minister. Apart from pre-election promises, a leaflet was circulated in the Meath East constituency in November 2011 stating that the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Shane McEntee, was working with the Minister and that the ban on stag hunting would be reversed shortly. The Minister was slapped down by the Taoiseach shortly after that. What was happening in the Minister's Department given that the Minister of State was able to tell constituents that the Minister was about to do this? That is the reason I was surprised that stag hunting was not addressed in the Bill. What has happened in the meantime that those pre-election commitments and the post-election statements have not been followed up on?