A lurcher.
Sentiment score: 0.00
That is a scurrilous accusation to be making.
Sentiment score: -0.25
It is of course.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is just because you did not like what he said. He hurt you in what he said, that is all that is wrong with you, because he told the truth.
Sentiment score: -0.46
He told the truth. The truth hurts.
Sentiment score: 0.06
To make it very clear, the Government will 100% oppose this Bill as it is proposed. I will call it out for what it is. It is extremely misleading. I would go so far as to say it is a con job. I will tell the House why. As currently drafted, the Bill proposes to ban all hunting for foxes, regardless of the purpose of that hunting and the manner in which it is carried out. That has been ignored today several times by several speakers. They have given the impression that this is about people up on horses-----
Sentiment score: -0.08
-----with red coats shouting "Tally-ho". That is rubbish. That is not what this Bill proposes to ban and the people who are saying otherwise obviously have not read it in its entirety. If farmers have lambs outside in a field and want to protect them, this Bill would make them criminals tomorrow if they shot foxes tonight.
Sentiment score: -0.19
That is exactly the legal opinion regarding what is proposed here.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I will make that very clear.
Sentiment score: 0.44
I was not going to talk about Deputy Gogarty at all but, seeing as he is interrupting me, I will say that he completely misled everybody here. He obviously did not read the Bill because he does not know what he is talking about.
Sentiment score: -0.21
If he did, he would not have said what he said. A lot has been said about the 73% of people who say that they do not want this type of fox hunting to continue. There is an important statistic left out of that, which is that 98% of those people said they had never seen a hunt or foxes being killed. They never saw anything. All they are doing is listening to media reports about this. These 73% are talking about something that 98% of them know absolutely nothing about in the first instance. I take issue with a comment Deputy Coppinger made earlier with regard to hill farming. She spoke as if she knew what she was talking about but unfortunately she obviously does not because she mentioned a word that Deputy Danny Healy-Rae mentioned a minute ago, that is, "grants". Is she living in the real world? She seems to be suggesting that, if a farmer goes into a field tomorrow and finds dead lambs - when I say dead, their throats will have been pulled apart by the Deputy's beautiful foxes and their limbs will have been torn asunder in the same way as hens will be - it is all right because the farmers will get a grant. That is rubbish. They will lose out financially. It is not just that. The Deputy said nothing about the torture the lambs, hens and geese go through. I heard it said earlier that we should compare dogs with foxes. This is wrong, dangerous and absolutely misleading. I was shocked to hear Deputy O'Gorman speak earlier but, then again, his lack of knowledge is exemplified by the Green Party when it comes to being out of touch with rural issues. This is not the first time he has showed a lack of knowledge about issues such as this. I do not welcome this debate but I welcome the fact that we will be able to vote the Bill down tonight. It is part of a constant attack, whether it is on the greyhound industry, horse racing or fishing. The Deputies all seem to hate the term "rural pursuits" all of a sudden. Why do they hate it? It means so much to so many people. It is like shooting. Maybe the Deputies think it is wrong to shoot grey crows. Do they know what a grey crow does to a defenceless lamb? If it is in any way weak or sick, the grey crow will come down from the sky and pull out its two eyes. The Deputies do not want to hear that. They think the person who goes out to shoot grey crows is wrong. Along with others, they want to continue attacking rural Ireland. Let us take the deer for example. People are now realising that we have an overpopulation of deer in this country. We have to reduce the figure by 75%. This is management of rural Ireland. You cannot just leave everything go as it is. If the Deputies had their way, they would do away with live exports, pig farming and the whole idea of people rearing chickens and all of that. They are against any type of farming, including intensive dairy farming. I heard Deputy Paul Murphy talking about this cruel and barbaric affair. He does not seem to care at all about what the foxes do and the cruelty they inflict on other animals. Members spoke about badgers earlier on. Do they realise that our senior Minister is engaged on the most important issue of protecting our herd from TB at the moment?
Sentiment score: -0.19
The badgers are absolutely a leading contributor to the spread of TB.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Again, this is something the Deputy knows nothing about.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is scientific fact.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is a scientific fact but, of course, the other side do not want to hear that because they think the badgers are beautiful. Tell that to a farmer like the good friend of mine who yesterday saw 17 in-calf heifers having to leave his yard because they had contracted TB. Why? It was because of badgers.
Sentiment score: 0.38
We have to eradicate badgers.
Sentiment score: 0.00
We have to eradicate our deer. We have to manage rural Ireland. I have heard people talking about colonial pursuits. Again, they are trying to give the public the message that this is only about people up on horses running after the poor fox. It is not. It is about the poor farmer who has to get up in the middle of the night to try to identify, follow, track and kill a fox because it is killing his or her lambs. That is what everybody over there wants to ignore. Some people's speeches have been extremely misleading. I recognise that Deputy Cronin actually did read the Bill. Her speech was entirely her own opinion but at least she knew what she was talking about, unlike other Members who just seem to be taking the narrative put out there. I reserve a very special word for Deputy Whitmore. I am sorry that, like a wasp, she came in, stung and ran but I will respond to her. On behalf of myself and Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, I will say one thing to her. This is the lady who is so anti-farming that, at a critical time when the Minister, Deputy Heydon, was doing everything he could to lead a campaign to maintain a nitrates derogation, she did everything she could to sabotage and undermine that. She spoke to the media and made a presentation to Commissioner Roswall in which she tried to completely undermine our hardworking farmers but she failed, just as she will fail tonight. The reason I reserve a special word for her, on behalf of myself and Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, is that she mentioned that she was contacted by some of our constituents. That same Deputy actually said on the record that she wonders who we represent. I will remind her of a small fact. Up to 30% of the electorate who went out to vote voted for a Healy-Rae. She can stick that in her pipe and smoke it. You cannot go against the electorate. They are the bosses. Could she say the same thing about herself, her political party or any of the Deputies over there? If they got 30% of the vote, they would be in orbit. When I am on a roll, I will take them out one by one. I heard what Deputy Eoin Hayes said about the Brits. He was talking absolute rubbish, again because he did not read or understand the Bill and does not care about the farmers who want to protect their livestock. Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned something else in a very knowledgeable and sound way. He mentioned the diseases foxes spread. He said that cows can lose calves as the result of contracting diseases. He was right to raise that matter. I do not know if he was the only Member to raise it.
Sentiment score: -0.09
What has happened here over the past couple of weeks has been completely misleading. Again, what she is trying to do has been misportrayed. She is attacking rural Ireland. She is attacking our farming community.
Sentiment score: -0.34
The people who are with her are misrepresenting what they are actually trying to do. I am delighted that they will lose the vote tonight and the people who want to continue killing foxes will be entitled to do so.
Sentiment score: -0.17
She will not take away their pursuit.
Sentiment score: 0.00
That is why you object to houses, is it?
Sentiment score: 0.00
And that is why you are an objector.
Sentiment score: 0.00
They can get a grant.
Sentiment score: 0.36
No, I understood-----
Sentiment score: -0.30
You do not understand your own Bill.
Sentiment score: 0.00
That is fairly pathetic now.
Sentiment score: -0.57
That is fairly pathetic but I would expect nothing better.
Sentiment score: -0.67