Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Mistruths, false promises, something wrong was said. There are many ways of saying it but I am saying the truth. The people were misled. I expected to see a provision for the reinstatement of stag hunting but there is nothing in the Bill to do with stag hunting. Those promises are just thrown on the bonfire of power. The Ministers, Deputies Hogan and McEntee conveniently and completely discarded the promises they had made to the people. I was at a meeting in Trim attended by 3,000 people. I note some of the various associations involved in this issue are still annoyed at the reneging on promises. This Bill gives an opportunity to vent those concerns and to remind people of those false promises or whatever one wants to call them made by Fine Gael before the election. They certainly cost my party, probably rightly, a lot of votes because we were the ones who banned stag hunting and I stood by the Government decision of the time. However, this deep disappointment will not be forgotten in County Meath, in particular in the parishes of Ardcath and Clonalvy and Curraha and the areas where this hunt is supported. They relied on promises made by Fine Gael and these have now been thrown by the wayside. Shame on the Government and shame on the Ministers for not implementing the promises they made.