I ask the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach to give Deputy Fitzmaurice the extra time because of this. To be clear, foxes are wild animals. They can be dangerous. They carry leptospirosis. They have tapeworm and toxoplasmosis. They will bite humans if they are hungry. They will attack domestic animals like cats and dogs if they can get away with it. I even heard a story about one robbing a spice bag off someone recently in an urban area. They will kill lambs, especially weak lambs after birth. Foxes are hunters. They are predators. Members have heard the phrase "sly as a fox." That is because they are clever animals. They are not domestic pets, although some people feed them in urban areas, as Deputy O'Donoghue said. Having said all that, they are dumb animals but not as dumb as the animals that hunt them. There is no rational argument for killing a defenceless wild animal for pleasure. It is the worst form of abuse. It is not for anything else. It is to get off on watching those hounds tear the fox apart, nothing else. It is uncivilised. It is on par with genital mutilation and the way people used to get away with whacking their partners in domestic abuse cases. It is a tradition but one that is long past its time. As others have said, there are alternatives. We have the drag hunting, the clean boot hunting. You can get on your horse, have your rural pursuits, ride on the land, chase, have all your social interactions, dress up and have hunt balls. You can have everything except tearing the fox apart. I am not against culling the fox population if it is causing danger to people but this is not about culling the fox population, it is about having pleasure at the expense of an animal. I am particularly disappointed there is no open vote on this with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and especially Sinn Féin. One of my constituency colleagues talked last week about his partner's beautiful whippet called Padmé that brings so much joy to their lives, yet he told me also that he would not be opposing greyhound racing because that is a working man's sport and he said he would take the hit. Fox hunting could not be described as a working man's sport but Sinn Féin is still going to take the hit. Instead of tiocfaidh ár lá, it is tally-ho chaps, let us keep it going and keep the vestiges of the British Empire. Let us cop on, have a free vote and get rid of this barbaric practice.
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Put down an amendment.
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Table an amendment.
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Put down a Committee Stage amendment.
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On a point of order, I raised it before him.
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