I thank Deputy Coppinger for bringing forward this Bill to ban fox hunting. It might seem unlikely that a city TD such as me from Dublin South-Central would have any interest in what is constantly being said affects rural areas and communities. If you bear with me for a minute, I will explain my position. When I was a child, I split my time between suburban Dublin, in Deputy Coppinger's constituency, and rural Cavan, where my granny and her people are from. My mother lived there for the last part of her life. I spent many weekends in Cavan with my grand-uncle, driving a tractor, going to fields, feeding cattle, helping on the farm and moving cattle from field to field. As a suburban young person, I also spent my weeks going to school, youth theatre, friends' houses and hanging out on the estate. In those two parts of life, rural and suburban, we loved our animals. That was true of people on both sides. It has nothing to do with where you live. It is about loving and respecting animals. The Minister said earlier that foxes are not a protected species. That does not mean they can be treated the way they are treated in a fox hunt. They have feelings. They are animals. They have feelings and are, therefore, capable of feeling fear and dread caused by being chased by humans, horses and hounds. Fox hunting is banned in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. It really is time that Ireland evolved and stopped this cruel and barbaric activity.

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