I thank Deputy Coppinger for this really important Bill. It is very timely, so I thank her for her work on it. The Social Democrats will 100% support her in the Bill and her efforts to ban fox hunting. I will be very clear. Fox hunting is wrong, fox hunting is cruel and fox hunting has no place in the Ireland of today. I was really disappointed to hear what the Minister, Deputy Heydon, said in his speech. I expect the arguments put forward by the Government to be more rational. There was an incredible amount of misinformation provided in the Minister's speech. To be honest, it is something I would have expected from the Independent Members whom I have been debating on this issue over recent weeks. I had thought Fine Gael would provide something with a bit more humanity, a bit more compassion and a bit more rationality. Let us go through the different arguments. The Minister said that the fact that Deputies who support this Bill have never met anyone who has been on a hunt undermines our case. I do not need to go on a hunt to know it is cruel. I do not need to go to a bullfight to know it is cruel. I do not need to go to see badger-baiting or to attend a dogfight to know they are cruel. If something is cruel, it is cruel. There is a fundamental basis for animal welfare that we should be applying in this country. It is incredible that the Minister referred to that in his speech. I will move to the matter of rural versus urban Ireland, and this is a matter that the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, has put forward on numerous occasions. This is not a rural versus urban debate. This is a debate on animal welfare and what we consider to be acceptable in Ireland. Interestingly, since I have been talking about this, a huge number of people from rural Ireland have contacted me, as I am sure they have other Deputies, to express their outrage at fox hunting. They want it banned. A sheep farmer in Cashel said that many farming neighbours agree that the days of having large numbers of horses galloping through farmland in the wettest months of the year are long gone and that fox hunting as a means of curtailing the population is a fallacy. A Wicklow constituent told me that a hunt passed through their local area and the hounds entered their garden. They split apart and savaged their beloved little dog, Isabelle, killing the dog on my correspondent's property. Someone from a farming background in Cork told me that the notion that fox hunting is a method of controlling the fox population is ludicrous. They said that fox hunters do far more destruction to farming land and the countryside. A zoologist in Wicklow, who is also from a farming background, said that hunting with hounds is one of the least effective methods of population control. Farmers have told me that their livestock have been traumatised. Another man told me that he lives in rural west Cork and there are a couple of practical points that sway him totally against fox hunting. He said that no insurance company will give cover. He said that damage is done to farmers' land and property by fox hunting. He also mentioned the harm to horses, cattle and sheep that no one talks about, and attacks on domestic animals, such as household pets, which have happened. Hunts, in fact, tell you to lock up your pets. I do not know who the Minister of State listens to when he purports to represent rural Ireland. Those are the voices from rural Ireland that I am hearing. They are the voices to which I will listen. The argument about this being a good means of controlling foxes is crazy and ridiculous. It is the most inefficient means of controlling foxes. If you have a fox on your land that is causing problems to your livestock, there are alternative methods, such as shooting, that will be a lot more efficient than calling on packs of hounds and hunters to come through your land, through your ditches, wrecking your fences and crops and disturbing all the farm animals on your property. That is no argument whatsoever. I accept that there are a small number of people who have done this over many years and that there could be an impact on their livelihoods. However, change happens and we have to move with the change. I ask those people to find an alternative to fox hunting. Drag hunting will provide the same job opportunities, the same tourism opportunities and the same opportunities for local hoteliers to get business. It is a controlled method that means you are not wrecking farmers' lands. You would only be going onto farmers' lands if they want you on it. There is no cruelty involved. I ask them to find an alternative to fox hunting. The Minister said that people should not only be listening to the loud voices. The reason there are loud voices is that there are so many people in this country who do not want fox hunting. Rather than dismiss those loud voices, I ask the Minister of State to listen to them. He should be led by his constituents. His constituents have been on to me asking for this practice to be banned. I thank Deputy Coppinger. I welcome the fact that Sinn Féin has finally been placed in a situation whereby it has had to declare its position on the issue. It is disappointing. The mask has slipped for Sinn Féin in this regard. I will pass to my colleagues.
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On a point of order, I am just wondering when we are discussing this, can we just ask the Deputies to state whether they have any financial involvement in hunts or the provision of services for hunting?
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That is all I am asking.
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It is hardly scurrilous to ask for transparency, Minister.
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If that is what the Minister of State is worried about, I would be concerned about that. It is transparency and it is Members' responsibility in this Chamber to be clear about any financial benefit.
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