I thank Deputy Coppinger for bringing forward this important legislation today, which I and the Green Party will be strongly supporting. Along with the Bill on dog breeding last week, it is a welcome opportunity for this House to focus on some of the more extreme and, frankly, indefensible practices which animals in this country are subject to. I want to speak very directly about this. There is simply no justifiable reason for this State to permit the hunting and killing of foxes, with dogs. It is not a reasonable method to control the fox population. It is not, as some have argued, a means of protecting biodiversity, and it is not an intrinsic part of rural life in Ireland. In spite of the immovable political positions adopted by some of the largest parties in this House, it is absolutely not something that is supported by the majority of people in Ireland, in either rural or urban Ireland. Last week, speaking on Deputy Whitmore's Bill on puppy farming I made the same point. People in every part of our country, when they hear about how animals can be treated legally in this country, are overwhelmingly in favour of eliminating and banning these most heinous and most cruel practices. We are left wondering, why those parties that claim to have the broadest support seem to be so entrenched and so immovable, when even their own constituents are asking for change. I have little doubt that during the course of the debate this morning, some of those opposing Deputy Coppinger's Bill will try to reduce this to another front in the culture wars. As I said last week, when anyone tries to do something on the issue of animal welfare, the battle is immense. Those of us who are advocating for change are accused of trying to destroy country life, of being out of touch and of being elite. Let me be very clear about what I say so others cannot misrepresent me. I believe it is wrong to kill animals for fun, for pleasure, and that is what fox hunting ultimately is about. It is the killing of an animal in a social setting for human enjoyment. I recognise farmers have to take measures to protect sheep and poultry. Sometimes foxes will be shot. It is not something I might like personally but I recognise it is a reality of farming in our country. However, that is not what we are discussing today. We are discussing the organised pursuit and killing, by mauling to death by dogs, of a small animal for the enjoyment of a group of people who see this as a social event. In the same way Irish law has outlawed the killing of dogs in dog fighting for fun, or the baiting of bulls, bears and badgers for fun over its history, I believe it is now important for us to take that step to ban the killing of foxes for fun. I would like to raise one slight point of difference with Deputy Coppinger on the Bill. Her Bill seeks to outlaw drag hunting and she rightfully points out that in England, drag hunting-----

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It bans trail hunting. Okay, I will step back from that point because I think it is important there is at least one drag hunt in Ireland. It is not my thing but as long as a fox is not being killed I am not particularly concerned about that. It is important we keep the focus here on the central issue which is using legislation to ban the killing of foxes - the killing of animals for pleasure. We have had the opportunity on three occasions in this House over the past five weeks to discuss issues of animal welfare. They were issues to do with greyhounds and dog breeding and today it is fox hunting. Deputy Coppinger has already pointed out that during the debate on the puppy farming Bill last week, there was real passion among Deputies. Deputies spoke with real meaning about what their dogs and their pets meant to them. Today, we have another opportunity to make real change. We have another opportunity to outlaw a practice that is long past the time of needing to be outlawed in this country. Ireland's laws have banned cruel practices of killing animals in the past in a range of areas and it is time we took this opportunity today. I urge Deputies to support this legislation.

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