Presidential election candidate Heather Humphreys has shamefully confirmed her support for cruel fox hunting - a bloodsport most people in Ireland want banned.

During a presidential debate on the Pat Kenny show on Newstalk Radio (14 October 2025), she was asked: "Do you support fox hunting?". 

Her response: "What I do support is rural pursuits."

“Which includes fox hunting,” Pat Kenny interjected.

“Yeah,” continued Heather Humphreys. “There are a lot of controls in place around rural pursuits and I think once the rules are abided by, I support rural pursuits...I support the right of rural people to continue on with the pursuits that they have been doing for many, many years.”

Fox hunting involves releasing a pack of dogs to terrorise a defenceless fox. The fox is chased across the countryside and when caught, the unfortunate creature is attacked, bitten, disembowelled and pulled apart while hunters on foot or horseback blow horns and cheer on the disgusting frenzy. When a fox attempts to escape underground, hunt terriermen are called in. They send terriers down the hole to corner, viciously attack and hold the fox in place. The hunters dig the clay away from above and drag out the squealing and injured fox who is then brutally killed. No controls or rules could ever eliminate the obscene cruelty inherent in fox hunting - only a complete ban will achieve that.

As a TD, Heather Humphreys disgracefully voted against proposed amendments to the Animal Health and Welfare Bill which sought to stop some of the country's worst forms of animal cruelty, including hare coursing and fox hunting. She also opposed a ban on terrierwork and digging out.

During her time in the Dail, Heather Humphreys voted in favour of more than €420 MILLION of Irish taxpayers' money being granted to horse and greyhound racing - €338 million to Horse Racing Ireland (much of which ended up as prize money for wealthy horse owners and trainers) plus €84 million for Greyhound Racing Ireland. She voted in favour of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022 (€80 million / €80 million / €84 million / €88 million / €91 million). 

Horse Racing Ireland channels massive amounts of its funding into cruel foxhunts in the form of point-to-point racing grants. In the past 10 years, hunts have received more than €10 million for their racing activities – this funding helps sustain hunts and their cruel activities.

In stark contrast, compassionate Catherine Connolly backed efforts to try and secure a ban on hare coursing, has "serious difficulty" with dog-killing greyhound racing, voted against tens of millions of euros of taxpayers' money being ploughed into horse and greyhound racing and, earlier this year, voted in favour of the Animal Health and Welfare (Ban on Fox Hunting) Bill.

The presidential election will take place on Friday 24 October 2025. Please reject Heather Humphreys and give your number 1 vote to Catherine Connolly.

Watch the full Newstalk debate at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgnz9oUmmOs

SEE ALSO:

Presidential Election 2025: Animal lovers urged to REJECT Heather Humphreys
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/presidential-election-2025-animal-lovers-urged-to-reject-heather-humphreys

Presidential candidate Heather Humphreys voted against proposed bans on cruel fox hunting and hare coursing
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/presidential-candidate-heather-humphreys-opposed-bans-on-cruel-fox-hunting-and-hare-coursing

Heather Humphreys questioned about animal cruelty case letter
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/heather-humphreys-questioned-about-animal-cruelty-case-letter/