Debate contribution: Hunting with Dogs Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 26 May 2026.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

26 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Hunting with Dogs Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5583401

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I commend the Member for bringing the Bill to the House. It is hard work. It is not easy to do a private Member's Bill. I commend him for his work. I also take the opportunity to say that I hope that my private Member's Bill will make its passage through the House as well. As a side comment, I suspect that, had I said half of what was said about drafters, I would have been kicked out of this place, but maybe we will leave that for another day. As a dog walker whose dog occasionally chases a squirrel up a tree, I will not be criminalised. I have no fear of being criminalised, locked up or fined or of facing a court case because of the Bill. That was scaremongering. I was going to use the term — well, it was scaremongering. I thank the Member for introducing the Bill. My party and I back the legislation without reservation. As has been said, England, Scotland and Wales have taken a stand against the shameful practice of hunting with dogs. I say this to the Member for Upper Bann: just because a Member is not in the Chamber does not mean that they are not listening to the debate upstairs. He knows that all too well, but he refused to allow an intervention on that basis. I will move on. It should be regarded as a source of shame that the North is an outlier on hunting with dogs, as on many other things. The Assembly has a chance to put the practice to an end. For the majority of people and organisations that are lobbying against the Bill, hunting with dogs is not about pest control or land management; it is a blood sport with deep roots in British aristocratic culture, in which wild animals are chased to exhaustion and torn apart for the entertainment of a tiny, privileged minority. Dressing it up in the language of countryside tradition does not change that fact. It is nothing short of cruelty. I emphasise that it is a bit rich for the Members to my right, who lambast even limited forms of climate change legislation that will protect and conserve the environment, to use that language to endorse cruel hunting with animals.

No, thanks. You did not extend that favour to me, so I will move on. I am content that the Bill contains sufficient exemptions for the legitimate use of dogs, including hunting pests, protecting livestock and carrying out humane killing and certain management of wild mammals. That is clear in the Bill, so, again, a bit of misrepresentation has taken place today. The fact is that an overwhelming majority of the public support the Bill. A LucidTalk poll found that 76% of people in the North want fox hunting to be banned, and those figures generally hold in rural and urban areas. The Member's consultation, as we heard, drew over 12,000 responses, which was sniffed at, but that is more than the number of responses to most ministerial consultations and consultations on private Members' Bills. Some 80% of people said in their responses that ending hunting with dogs was important to them. Members can raise different views, as they are entitled to do, but they should note those significant figures. The public have clearly spoken, and the Assembly should listen. We should also recognise that there is no universal rural experience, which was touched on by some Members. Farmers struggling in difficult economic conditions are not the natural allies of the hunt. Many have banned hunts from their land because of biosecurity risks, damaged fences and disturbed livestock. I have been contacted, as other Members may have been, by many rural farmers who have indicated that. Legal hunting with dogs provides cover for illegal activity, including badger baiting, one of the most sadistic practices imaginable. Scotland strengthened its legislation in 2023 and closed loopholes in the Hunting Act 2004. This Bill aims to do the same by recognising trail hunting as a smokescreen for illegal hunting. No animal should be torn apart by dogs for sport. It is time to end that barbaric, colonial practice, and I urge Members to support the Bill.

705 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:41 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification