Stag hunting ban - Political posturing

“You get over the big issues,” the Taoiseach Albert Reynolds said as he was resigning, “it’s the little things that trip you up.” That is politics, and any government forgets this at its own peril.

In the midst of the worst economic crisis in over half a century it would have been ironic if the Government were brought down on the issue of stag hunting in the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill. We would be the laughing stock of not just Europe but the whole world.

Government has put thorough legislation in relation to the National Assets Management Agency, which is the biggest banking bailout ever put on our statute books. The Government also had little apparent difficulty in implementing some of the biggest cuts ever to both social welfare and the public service.