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.

Bringing down the Government on the issue of stag hunting would have been a sad reflection on the level of political discourse in this country.

Focussing so much political dissent on the issue of stag hunting, against the backdrop of our other difficulties, has been a paradox. Some independents and backbench Fianna Fáil deputies have been flexing their political muscles, secure in the knowledge that the Government was never likely to lose the vote.

The opposition co-operated in pairing with those absent on ministerial business, or on health grounds. Regardless of where the politicians stood on the matter, they did not really wish to bring the Government down on this issue. It was just political posturing.