A LARGE MAJORITY of people are in favour of a ban on foxes being hunted for sport, a new opinion poll has suggested.

According to the results, total of 72% said they believe foxhunting as a sport should be banned in Ireland, with 17% against the proposal.

The other 11% of respondents said they weren’t sure.

The Ireland Thinks survey was carried out ahead of the Dáil holding a debate on a proposal from People Before Profit–Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger later this month.

If it succeeds, the Dublin West TD’s bill before the Dáil would ban fox hunting on animal welfare grounds.

The poll, commissioned by campaign group Uplift, asked people their views of organised fox hunts that hunt and often kill the wild animals.

It did not query respondents on the hunting of foxes on non-sporting grounds, such as for the protection of farm livestock.

Results from the survey Uplift / Ireland Thinks Uplift / Ireland Thinks / Ireland Thinks

Ireland Thinks carried out the poll across a sampling of 1,000 people last month. The results hold a margin of error of 3.1%.

Responses were similar across regions. The lowest yes to banning foxhunting came in Munster, but still reached 69%.

The strongest support for fox hunting arose in Leinster, although this was still at just 15%.

When broken down by income, 55% high income earners are strongly in favour of a ban.

A larger amount of low income earners – at two-thirds of respondents – were more strongly in favour.

Medium income earners fell in the middle with 65% strongly opposed to the hunting of animals for sport.

Responses were also similar across age brackets. Around three quarters of people aged 18 to 44 were in favour of a ban, while the slightly lower 69% of over 55s were in favour.

A breakdown of results across age, region and income. Uplift / Ireland Thinks Uplift / Ireland Thinks / Ireland Thinks

Of those asked, just 2% said they had ever taken part in a fox hunt, in contrast to 98% who said they had not.

There has been resistance in the past to bans on fox hunting from some of the major political parties, with one move earlier this year s seeing Sinn Féin vote against an Opposition bill seeking to forbid the practice.

The issue arose in the recent presidential campaign during one TV debate, when candidates Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys held differing views on a ban.