Fox hunting makes people in rural Ireland “look like savages”, a farmer in Meath has argued. 

Today outside Leinster House, Rural Ireland Against Fox Hunting will gather for a protest to demand TDs ban hunting with dogs. 

Late last year, a bill proposed by People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger was voted down by the Dáil. 

124 TDs from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Aontú voted to keep fox hunting legal, while 24 TDs voted in favour of a ban. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, farmer and Rural Ireland Against Fox Hunting spokesperson Donna Mullen said she hoped TDs would reconsider, describing the practice as “just cruel”. 

“If you have to kill a fox,we all have to kill animals sometimes - be it getting your dog put down or whatever - and you try and do it with as much kindness as possible.

“So, from the fox's point of view, getting chased across a field and ripped apart, it's really cruel. 

“But from the farmer's point of view - and I'm a farmer in north Meath - it's really a disaster having all these people coming onto your land with horses.” 

3BCTMGJ European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), adult, yawning, resting on lawn, in garden, Ireland, Europe

Ms Mullen continued that she worries about her own animals whenever she sees the hunt arrive on her land.  

“Have they vaccinated their horses? What are they doing? They're mingling with my animals,” she explained. 

“They're compacting the soil and making it all, turning all the grassland into mud. It frightens the livestock, any livestock on the land.

“At the moment, there's sheep pregnant, cattle pregnant. And, you know, they damage fences, they leave gates open. 

“I've had hounds in, pull apart my chicken pen.” 

Ms Mullen added that she believes fox hunting is a “public relations disaster” for rural Ireland. 

“We're trying to sell our animals as coming from a place in rural Ireland, which is a place that's kind to animals,” she said. 

“And having fox hunting going on in rural Ireland, it, you know, makes us all look like savages.” 

A fox in the Cooley Mountains in Ireland. Picture by: Enda Flynn / Alamy.

Also on the programme, Minister for Farm Safety Michael Healy Rae said he does not believe the Dáil should revisit the issue, having only recently voted against a ban. 

“We had a vote in the Dáil on a proposal to ban this,” he said. 

“And the result of that was 24 people wanted to ban it and 124 people wanted to let it as it is.

“Now, that's democracy at work.” 

The Kerry TD said controlling fox numbers is vital for farmers whose livestock they prey on. 

“If we don't have people who are out killing foxes and controlling their numbers, what you will have is you'll have a different type of disaster,” he argued. 

“If we don't control numbers by whatever means, whether that's people out with hounds hunting, whether it's the farmer who goes out at night and has to stay up late to protect his sheep that are lambing. 

“Has Donna ever seen the carnage that happens when foxes go in and attack lambs that are after being born? She's talking about foxes being ripped asunder.

“I've seen fields that have been torn asunder with the limbs of small little baby lambs after being attacked by foxes.”

Main image: A group of hounds. Picture by: Alamy.com.