Richard O'Donoghue Warns Against Ending Fox Hunting, Cites Livestock Attacks
Richard O'Donoghue spoke about fox hunting and animal attacks, arguing that controlled hunting is necessary to protect livestock and allow people to defend animals. He criticised opponents' expertise and said veterinary services are involved, warning that a ban would prevent defensive action by landowners.
Main argument
He said there is no urban-rural divide on the issue and described foxes causing devastation to livestock. He warned that removing hunting would leave people unable to defend animals when foxes overpopulate or move into towns.
Personal testimony
He recounted incidents from his farming background, including foxes attacking a cow during calving, killing lambs, and ravaging hens on his own land. He said hunts pass through his property each season and that he no longer keeps hens because of fox predation.
Public safety example
He cited a recent case in Cavan where a woman needed six stitches after defending her chickens, using this example to illustrate the immediate risks faced by people protecting livestock and property.
On expertise and political opponents
He criticised critics for lacking veterinary knowledge, stating that veterinary services are involved in the issue. He also accused the Social Democrats of previously misidentifying a lurcher as a greyhound during earlier debates over hunting.
Seasonality and regulation
He argued hunting occurs during a defined season and compared it to other seasonal agricultural activities, urging opponents to follow the science and "get your facts right" before discussing the matter.
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minutes. Thank you chair and I watched everyone standing up here with notebooks in front of them speaking and it's an awesome to his respiratory stuff that they were speaking to the same stuff coming out of their mouths. There's no urban and rural divide here. I have people from the urban area to come out hunting out to our area and they've done it for decades but I'm from a farming background I live in an area where there's a cover behind me. The hunt comes through the back of our land every time on the season. I've seen the devastation of what a fox has done to people's when the cow was calving what they've done to the cow it was calving outside in the field. I've seen what it's done to lambs but I've also seen what the hunt has done in areas of curtailing foxes in an area. I've also seen in our own place myself and we had two sets of hens which we always kept hens. They they were actually savage in our own area so now I don't have hens. But from the point of view of people and people are saying the foxes are now making their way into the city and they are and people are feeding foxes in the city and if that's what they want to do that's what they want to do. But when this overpopulating thing comes and they say that there's no hunting that means you cannot defend if a fox is doing something to your animals. It means you cannot defend like that woman in Cavan that got six stitches during the week defending her chickens. We're not talking about all day every day. There's a hunting season the same as there's a slurry season. There's all seasons for everything. But they also never asked and people stood up here today and said that they're not from a veterinary background. There's vets involved in this. The veterinary service are involved in this. Now Social Democrats last year tried to ban greyhound hunting and they were on the television and said this is a greyhound that's desperate against greyhounds. And they were out the front saying that they had a greyhound and it wasn't a greyhound at all. It was a lurcher. They didn't even realise they had a greyhound. They didn't even know what a greyhound was. The same thing is happening here today. They don't understand the process that's happening here. They didn't actually follow the science and they're talking about a minority of people saying two percent. How many percent of this country look after us in our Garda services? If you look at a percentage how many of our people in this country are medical people but yet they look after a population of millions. But you're talking about percentages. Get your facts right before you start discussing things that you know nothing about. Of course. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, Deputy.
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