I am opposed to this legislation on the basis of the potential for it to be used to convict people mistakenly, particularly people of colour, working-class young people and minorities. We have a lot of grounds to say that. The Bill is part of an increasingly repressive turn in policing and follows a pattern that already exists here, in Europe, in the US and in other countries worldwide. We have seen examples of that in relation to the Palestine solidarity movement, with of the use of pepper spray and the way activi…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." We are here today on an historic occasion. This is the first Bill in Dáil Éireann to specifically outlaw fox hunting. There have been attempts to ban a range of blood sports before. The origins of fox hunting are around the 1400s, when foxes were on farmland and people rounded up a dog to get rid of them. This became a formal sport in the nineteenth century by the British, our colonial rulers, dressed in master attire and all of the trappings of hierarchy. Oscar Wi…

It does not; it bans trail hunting.

It does not mention shooting.

It is hard to talk in the Dáil without referring to people who are not here.

They are very objective over there.

It does not say that at all.

Who is "she"?

We will leave aside the dripping misogyny that we have had to sit and listen to for the past few minutes from somebody who is sitting in the Department of agriculture talking about Deputy Whitmore and about myself. However, I will deal with the issues the Government and the other parties have raised. It is very clear that they are trying to make a culture war out of something that is very simple. It is about cruelty to the fox. None of the speakers who spoke against the Bill have even bothered to deal with whether …

How do you know what I know?

I actually do not live in a city. I live in a suburb. I spent my childhoods in the country. It is how I feel when the Deputy starts talking about women, women's rights and women's bodies. I just have to sit and listen to it. However, when I want to talk about rural areas, all of a sudden I do not have a right. Just cop on. We are here as national TDs for national issues. We can raise whatever we like. Rural life is in crisis because of the FDI economic model that this Government has encouraged from day one. I refer…

-----in rural Ireland.

I also do not agree with pubs, post offices and all of those things being lost in rural areas but those are the policies that are led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with whom the Minister of State is in government.

I want to raise some of the alternatives to fox hunting because I did not get a chance to mention them. To be clear, drag hunting is something with which I have absolutely no issue. It allows people to go out on horses or with their dogs. They follow an artificial scent across agreed routes. Clean boot hunting is another one that is being done in the UK. What this Bill does not deal with is a number of things. It does not deal with shooting. Somebody can shoot a fox. The Bill does not mention it. When you are draft…

I explained about the grant. The Minister of State obviously misunderstood what I said.

What I said-----

It is my time to speak now. I know the Minister of State finds that hard. The other issue is why we are talking about this now. The reason is that I get Private Members' time one and half times a year. That is why we are talking about it now. It is not a plot to make anyone look bad. It was either now or some time later. The reason it was put forward now was that it became a big issue in the Presidential election and I really thought a number of people would have caught up. On the thing about a grant, we had a brie…

We need to support what 80% of the population wants.

Tomorrow, there will be a first ever Dáil vote on banning fox-hunting in this country, a drawn-out killing for sport of foxes, one of our native species. It has been outlawed in the UK and most of Europe. This practice has been opposed in successive polls across every demographic, region, province and age, yet the three big parties seem to support it so they are out of sync with the general population. Will the Taoiseach allow Fianna Fáil TDs, 16 or 17 of whom I believe want to vote for my Bill, to do so? I have sp…

I also send my solidarity to the Jewish community in Sydney following the appalling attack. I am sure the Taoiseach agrees with me that cities should be liveable and should have culture as well as venues where people can meet, socialise and enjoy themselves. Will the Cabinet committee on housing and local government discuss the issue of The Complex, a very important cultural space in our capital where artists are currently housed but have been given an eviction notice for the middle of January? A protest on this wi…