Richard Boyd Barrett condemns hunts with dogs as 'barbaric'
Richard Boyd Barrett spoke in support of Deputy Coppinger's bill, condemning hunts involving people on horseback with packs of dogs as cruel and 'barbaric'. He urged the minister to recognise majority public opinion and end the practice.
Barrett thanked Deputy Coppinger for bringing the bill forward and said he was very happy to support it. He framed his support as consistent with a love of sport while rejecting what he described as cruel practices.
He described the activity as a large group of people on horseback with a pack of dogs pursuing a frightened animal and celebrating as the animal was torn to pieces. He said, "That is not a sport. That is just an exercise in cruelty and barbarism," and called the practice sadistic, barbaric and uncivilised.
Barrett argued the pursuit is not an ancient Irish rural tradition but a colonial pursuit developed by the British nobility. He linked the expansion of such rural pastimes to the historical enclosure movement and the enforced starvation and displacement of Irish people during the famine.
He said the minister did not defend the practice but misrepresented the bill and implied an agenda against rural pursuits. Barrett rejected the suggestion that the hunts serve as pest control, calling them an inefficient and indefensible method and noting his view that the British who developed the practice had themselves banned it.
Barrett criticised a small group he described as unrepresentative for defending the practice and urged the minister to step back and reflect the majority view in the country by moving to end what he called a barbaric pursuit.
Support for the bill
Barrett thanked Deputy Coppinger for bringing the bill forward and said he was very happy to support it. He framed his support as consistent with a love of sport while rejecting what he described as cruel practices.
Description of the practice and moral argument
He described the activity as a large group of people on horseback with a pack of dogs pursuing a frightened animal and celebrating as the animal was torn to pieces. He said, "That is not a sport. That is just an exercise in cruelty and barbarism," and called the practice sadistic, barbaric and uncivilised.
Historical and social critique
Barrett argued the pursuit is not an ancient Irish rural tradition but a colonial pursuit developed by the British nobility. He linked the expansion of such rural pastimes to the historical enclosure movement and the enforced starvation and displacement of Irish people during the famine.
Response to the minister and claims about pest control
He said the minister did not defend the practice but misrepresented the bill and implied an agenda against rural pursuits. Barrett rejected the suggestion that the hunts serve as pest control, calling them an inefficient and indefensible method and noting his view that the British who developed the practice had themselves banned it.
Call to reflect public opinion
Barrett criticised a small group he described as unrepresentative for defending the practice and urged the minister to step back and reflect the majority view in the country by moving to end what he called a barbaric pursuit.
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Transcript
Yeah, I'd just like to thank Deputy Coppinger for bringing this bill forward, and I'm very, very happy to support it. Now, I love sport. I'm passionate about sport, but I really find it hard to understand how anybody could imagine or gain entertainment from a large group of people on horseback with a pack of dogs pursuing a frightened animal and then watching and celebrating as that frightened animal is torn to pieces by dogs. I mean, that is not a sport. That is just an exercise in cruelty and barbarism. And as has been said, this isn't an ancient Irish tradition, Irish rural tradition. It's a colonial pursuit that was developed by the British nobility. And I think the point about the sort of contrast between the starvation of the Irish people, the enforced starvation of the Irish people during the famine, and the expansion of so-called rural pursuits by the British nobility. I mean, there is a connection, actually, because, of course, the genocide of the Irish people during what is known as the famine was linked to an ambition by our colonial masters to drive the people off the land, to clear the land. It was an accelerated version of the enclosure movement, where the rich wanted to drive ordinary people off the land to clear it for their so-called pursuits. And so it is tied up. I mean, it's sort of ironic, in a way, that those who defend this practice, although it's interesting that the minister doesn't actually defend the practice. He doesn't defend it, at all. You didn't. You didn't. What you did is you tried to misrepresent the bill. That's what you did. You said there were things in the bill that are not in the bill. And then you implied that really this was part of a wider agenda of opposing rural pursuits, which is absolutely not. But you didn't actually defend it. You didn't actually defend it, because you know it's indefensible. It is utterly indefensible. And please tell me how this is a legitimate form of support to tear a frightened animal limb from limb with a pack of dogs with a big gang of people on the back of horseback. It is nothing of the sort. And the idea that it has anything to do with pest control. I mean, seriously. Like, it has to be the most inefficient form of pest control possibly imaginable. Right? You get a gang of horses horses and dogs and so on. To chase one fox. To chase one fox. And you're seriously putting that forward as a form of pest control. It has nothing to do with that. It was a sport of the nobility. A sadistic sport of the nobility. And it really is just barbaric and uncivilised. And how you could possibly defend it is beyond me. And the irony, as has already been said, is our colonial masters, the British who developed this, have actually banned it themselves. But for some bizarre reason, a small group of unrepresentative people, who don't represent majority opinion in this country, have decided to try and defend this colonial elite practice. It's quite bizarre, to be honest, Minister. And I really think you should step back from this and reflect the views of the majority of people in this country to end this barbaric practice. Thank you, Deputy.