LAST UPDATE | 17 Dec 2025

MICHAEL HEALY-RAE rounded on members of the opposition this morning amid fierce exchanges over a Bill that would outlaw fox hunting.

The junior minister and Independent Kerry TD said those wanting to change the law are “misleading” the public on the realities of fox hunting ahead of the vote tonight.

The Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2025, spearheaded by Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger, would prohibit the use of canines to hunt or flush out foxes and prohibit trapping or snaring of the foxes in order to kill them. 

It’s opposed by many rural TDs, who argue that fox hunting is a means of pest control.

During the debate today, Healy-Rae described the Bill as “a con job”.

He said those who support it are “giving the impression that this is about people up on horses with red coats and shouting ‘tally ho’”.

Healy-Rae is sympathetic to farmers whose lambs are being targeted by foxes. “It’ll make you a criminal tomorrow if you want to go out and shoot those foxes,” he said.

“[The lambs'] throats will have been pulled apart by your beautiful foxes,” he said, addressing Coppinger. 

The Bill, if passed, would not outlaw the shooting of foxes on one’s land for the purpose of protecting livestock. Coppinger said some TDs are “wilfully misinterpreting” the Bill.

Fox hunting is part of the “management of rural Ireland”, he said, and farmers will incur financial losses if it’s outlawed.

‘Anti-farming’

Healy-Rae then directly addressed Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore, who also spoke on the Bill today.

“Like a wasp, she came in, stung and ran,” he said.

Whitmore said the debate was not about “rural versus urban” interests, but rather animal welfare. She read out letters from people living in rural Ireland who support the ban.

In response, Healy-Rae argued said nearly 30% of people in his constituency voted for him in the last election, indicating that they would support his views.

“Maybe she’d stick that in her pipe and smoke it,” he said about Whitmore.

“You can’t go against the electorate. They’re the bosses.”

Coppinger later described his comments as “dripping misogyny”.

‘Throwback to Empire’

Healy-Rae then moved on to Eoin Hayes, another Social Democrats TD, saying: “When I’m on a roll, I’ll take them out one by one.”

Earlier, Hayes had argued that fox hunting was an “imported tradition” and “a throwback to empire”. He said people who partake in it are “cosplaying as British aristocrats”.

He also said it is “galling” that three parties whose foundations are anti-colonial (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin) would support “one of the last cultural vestiges” of the British Empire in Ireland. 

According to Healy-Rae, Hayes was “talking absolute rubbish” because he “didn’t understand” the Bill properly.

“[Hayes] doesn’t care about the farmers that want to protect their livestock,” said Healy-Rae.

According to a recent opinion poll, a majority of people believe foxhunting should be banned as a sport in Ireland. The survey did not query respondents on the hunting of foxes on non-sporting grounds, such as for the protection of farm livestock.

The Irish Wildlife Trust said that fox hunting happens regularly in Ireland during the hunting season, which runs from November to April, with 42 registered packs often meeting two or three times a week.

Fox hunting is banned across the UK, except for Northern Ireland. However, it’s believed laws against the practice are regularly broken throughout Britain.

There has been resistance in the past to bans on the practice, with one move this year seeing Sinn Féin vote against an earlier opposition bill seeking to ban it.