The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is disgusted and deeply disappointed that 38 Sinn Fein TDs attempted to block the progress of Ruth Coppinger TD's Animal Health & Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill on 28 May 2025.
The party voting against the introduction of the bill is an insult to the 77% majority who want fox hunting banned. A RED C opinion poll has shown that most people in both rural and urban areas want fox hunting banned, with just 12% disagreeing with a ban.
It is incredible that any party would consider it appropriate to try and thwart this admirable attempt to achieve a ban on what is one of Ireland's worst acts of cruelty to animals.
Before the vote, Sinn Fein TDs were reminded about the obscene suffering inflicted on foxes.
Sinn Fein says it believes that an outright ban would “drive fox hunting further underground” and that instead of a ban, the barbaric activity should be “strongly regulated”.
The cruelty could never be regulated out of fox hunting as it is inherently cruel. Foxes are chased to exhaustion by packs of dogs and when they slow down and are caught, they are attacked, bitten, disembowelled, pulled apart. Foxes who try to escape underground are dug out with shovels and spades and thrown to the hounds - typically after hunt terriers are sent down the hole to corner and attack them.
To the foxes squealing in agony, regulation is utterly meaningless and does nothing to quell their pain. No amount of regulation is capable of eliminating the suffering; only a complete ban will achieve that.
We do not accept the argument that a ban on bloodsports should be avoided for fear that it would drive these obscene activities underground. We agree with Sinn Fein TD Réada Cronin who stated at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in November 2023 that she “does not believe that outright bans driving brutality underground has any basis in fact.”
“The Ard Comhairle would not consider legalising and regulating dog fighting or cockfighting for a moment and to even say so is absurd, yet both activities were once commonplace,” she added.
After fox hunting and hare coursing are eventually banned, any illegal persecution of wildlife could be effectively addressed by a properly resourced wildlife crime unit. There is a desperate need for such a unit to be established - a positive move which Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan has pushed for in the past.
Sinn Fein's attempt to block Deputy Coppinger's bill is particularly reprehensible, given that party leader Mary Lou McDonald TD assured us in February 2020 that: “Sinn Fein is opposed to foxhunting and we will vote in favour of a ban at the next opportunity.”
We implore Sinn Fein to update its wholly inadequate and outdated animal welfare policies and in the meantime, at the very least, allow a free vote when Deputy Coppinger's bill returns to the Dail.
The bill is set to proceed to second stage after a majority of 113 TDs (including government party TDs) voted in favour of allowing the bill to be introduced. It has been reported that the government TDs plan to oppose the bill at the next stage - please scroll down for action alert and help convince them to back the bill.
The TDs who shamefully voted AGAINST the introduction of Ruth Coppinger's Bill - including 38 Sinn Fein TDs
Cathy Bennett (Sinn Fein)
John Brady (Sinn Fein)
Pat Buckley (Sinn Fein)
Joanna Byrne (Sinn Fein)
Matt Carthy (Sinn Fein)
Sorca Clarke (Sinn Fein)
Rose Conway-Walsh (Sinn Fein)
Réada Cronin (Sinn Fein)
Seán Crowe (Sinn Fein)
David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
Pa Daly (Sinn Fein)
Máire Devine (Sinn Fein)
Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)
Paul Donnelly (Sinn Fein)
Dessie Ellis (Sinn Fein)
Mairéad Farrell (Sinn Fein)
Thomas Gould (Sinn Fein)
Ann Graves (Sinn Fein)
Johnny Guirke (Sinn Fein)
Martin Kenny (Sinn Fein)
Claire Kerrane (Sinn Fein)
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein)
Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fein)
Donna McGettigan (Sinn Fein)
Conor D McGuinness (Sinn Fein)
Denise Mitchell (Sinn Fein)
Johnny Mythen (Sinn Fein)
Natasha Newsome Drennan (Sinn Fein)
Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Sinn Fein)
Louis O'Hara (Sinn Fein)
Louise O'Reilly (Sinn Fein)
Darren O'Rourke (Sinn Fein)
Eoin Ó Broin (Sinn Fein)
Ruairí Ó Murchú (Sinn Fein)
Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Sinn Fein)
Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Sinn Fein)
Maurice Quinlivan (Sinn Fein)
Mark Ward (Sinn Fein)
Michael Collins (Independent Ireland)
Michael Fitzmaurice (Independent Ireland)
Richard O'Donoghue (Independent Ireland)
Ken O'Flynn (Independent Ireland)
Paul Lawless (Aontú)
Peadar Tóibín (Aontú)
Danny Healy-Rae (Independent)
Michael Lowry (Independent)
Mattie McGrath (Independent)
Carol Nolan (Independent)
Brian Stanley (Independent)
ACTION ALERT
Contact all your local TDs and urge them to support Deputy Coppinger's bill when it returns to Dail Eireann. Visit the Oireachtas website for email addresses and phone numbers for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/34
Contact party leader Mary Lou McDonald and urge her to respect the wishes of the majority and back a ban on cruel fox hunting.
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Email all Sinn Fein TDs now:
*** Sinn Féin
matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie; pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie; thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie; donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie; Pearse.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; padraig.maclochlainn@oireachtas.ie; denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie; MaryLou.McDonald@oireachtas.ie; ann.graves@oireachtas.ie; louise.oreilly@oireachtas.ie; eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie; mark.ward@oireachtas.ie; dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie; maire.devine@oireachtas.ie; aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Crowe@oireachtas.ie; paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie; louis.ohara@oireachtas.ie; mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie; pa.daly@oireachtas.ie; reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie; shonagh.niraghallaigh@oireachtas.ie; maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie; sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie; ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie; rose.conwaywalsh@oireachtas.ie; darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie; johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie; claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie; martin.kenny@oireachtas.ie; david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie; conor.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie; john.brady@oireachtas.ie; fionntan.osuilleabhain@oireachtas.ie; natasha.newsomedrennan@oireachtas.ie; cathy.bennett@oireachtas.ie; donna.mcgettigan@oireachtas.ie; joanna.byrne@oireachtas.ie
Urge Fianna Fail and Fine Gael TDs to support the bill:
*** Fianna Fail
john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie; niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie; michael.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie; jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; jack.chambers@oireachtas.ie; james.lawless@oireachtas.ie; sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie; sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie; willie.odea@oireachtas.ie; niall.collins@oireachtas.ie; Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie; dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie; thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie; mary.butler@oireachtas.ie; minister@housing.gov.ie; peterchap.cleere@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie; cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie; timmy.dooley@oireachtas.ie; james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie; padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; seamus.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; patthecope.gallagher@oireachtas.ie; tom.brabazon@oireachtas.ie; shane.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie; shay.brennan@oireachtas.ie; catherine.ardagh@oireachtas.ie; john.lahart@oireachtas.ie; cormac@cormacdevlin.ie; albert.dolan@oireachtas.ie; john.connolly@oireachtas.ie; michael.cahill@oireachtas.ie; norma.foley@oireachtas.ie; naoise.ocearuil@oireachtas.ie; erin.mcgreehan@oireachtas.ie; aisling.dempsey@oireachtas.ie; tony.mccormack@oireachtas.ie; martin.daly@oireachtas.ie; eamon.scanlon@oireachtas.ie; ryan.omeara@oireachtas.ie; malcolm.byrne@oireachtas.ie
*** Fine Gael
catherine.callaghan@oireachtas.ie; david.maxwell@oireachtas.ie; joe.cooney@oireachtas.ie; noel.mccarthy@oireachtas.ie; colm.burke@oireachtas.ie; johnpaul.oshea@oireachtas.ie; jerry.buttimer@oireachtas.ie; naoise.omuiri@oireachtas.ie; james.geoghegan@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; grace.boland@oireachtas.ie; emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie; maeve.oconnell@oireachtas.ie; neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; emer.currie@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie; barry.ward@oireachtas.ie; peter.roche@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; joe.neville@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; william.aird@oireachtas.ie; kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O'Donovan@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; micheal.carrigy@oireachtas.ie; paula.butterly@oireachtas.ie; alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie; keira.keogh@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; john.clendennen@oireachtas.ie; frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie; michael.murphy@oireachtas.ie; john.cummins@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie; edward.timmins@oireachtas.ie; brian.brennan@oireachtas.ie
Contact the the leaders of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and tell them that you want fox hunting, hare coursing and all bloodsports banned.
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Tel: 01 619 4000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Simon Harris TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01 281 3727
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris
Keep hunters off your land
If you are a landowner, make your land off-limits to hunters. Find out more about how to do this on our Farmers/Landowners page – http://www.banbloodsports.com/farmers.htm
Watch our campaign video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG9rMlE3VAQ
Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports