Animal Health and Welfare (Ban on Fox Hunting) Bill 2025: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-17
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

Ireland is officially free of the zoonotic tapeworm echinococcus multilocularis. This is a severe tapeworm that causes debilitating diseases in humans. Annual surveillance in shot foxes provides evidence to prove the absence of the disease in Ireland, which allows us to require that all dogs entering the country are given preventative treatment prior to their arrival here, thus protecting public health as well as domestic pets and wildlife. This work would not be possible under the legislation as it is proposed before the House today.
In respect of the pest control point, while attempts have been made to downplay this, the reality is that foxes prey on livestock and other wildlife such as rare ground-nesting birds, which is something Deputy Coppinger admitted to in her opening address. I have not seen many accounts online seeking to play on people's emotions posting photos of dead lambs or hens that have been attacked by foxes. We all know that anyone who has backyard hens generally always has a story about the night the fox came. Research shows that red foxes are widespread across Ireland and can be found in every county. The nature of Ireland's wildly-farmed, fragmented landscape and the absence of an apex predator means it lends itself to high fox densities. Indeed, Deputy Coppinger listed many of the animals of which the fox is a predator in her opening address and acknowledged that the fox does not have a natural predator. Hunting provides one of the necessary means of controlling the fox population in Ireland. Deputy Coppinger and People Before Profit are pursuing this as a wedge issue, specifically designed to be emotive and confrontational. If they were honest, this is only a starting point for them. I have no doubt there are many other rural activities they would also like to ban.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-17