Dublin West TD Ruth Coppinger had her bill, which would have banned fox hunting in Ireland, defeated in the Dáil in one of the final sittings before Christmas.
While it was widely expected that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would vote against it, there has been controversy about Sinn Féin voting alongside the government parties and rural independents.
The Solidarity TD criticised the main government parties and Sinn Féin for how they voted, remarking, “the three big parties in the Dáil profess to be nationalist when it (fox hunting) has been banned in the UK for over 20 years.”
In the final edition of the West edition of the Northside People of 2024, this publication reported on how Mary Lou McDonald fell short in her bid to become Taoiseach after she failed to attain a Dáil majority, with Coppinger and Labour abstaining on the vote.
In December 2024, Coppinger said she was abstaining on the vote, criticising “Sinn Féin’s drift to the right.”
The article explored how Sinn Féin had burned bridges with prospective coalition partners on the far-left and centre-left, and 2025 ended with a similar set of circumstances.
Solidarity/People Before Profit, the Greens, the Social Democrats and Labour all voted in favour of banning fox hunting, while Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael all voted to keep the practice.
The vote ended with 124 voting against, and 24 voting for.
While the government and rural independent majority meant that the bill was likely to fail, the principle of Sinn Féin not working with their prospective coalition partners on a social issue has irked many.
Coppinger said Sinn Féin’s brand of social conservatism isn’t a newfound thing, noting that the party was against abortion prior to the Repeal referendum in 2018.
“The only people who are splitting the left are people who do not agree that animal rights is a priority issue for the left. People who are serious about a progressive left would want to question why they cannot convince their party conference to get rid of fox hunting. They really should be able to push how important that is.”
Fellow Dublin West TD and Green leader Roderic O’Gorman said, “there is simply no justifiable reason for this state to permit the hunting and killing of foxes, with dogs. It is not a reasonable method to control the fox population. It is not, as some have argued, a means of protecting biodiversity, and it is not an intrinsic part of rural life in Ireland.”
O’Gorman told the Dáil, “we have another opportunity to outlaw a practice that is long past the time of needing to be outlawed in this country. Ireland’s laws have banned cruel practices of killing animals in the past in a range of areas and it is time we took this opportunity.”
On the issue of fox hunting, the Sinn Féin party line was that banning fox hunting would merely “drive it underground” and that the practice needed to be regulated.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy was more forthright in his criticism of Sinn Féin, asking, “I have to put it to those in Sinn Féin; what are they thinking?”
“I know that those I worked with in the presidential campaign were laughing at Heather Humphreys, her support of rural pursuits and her defence of fox hunting, and they were supporting Catherine Connolly’s opposition to it,” he noted.
Sinn Féin TD Reada Cronin offered a mealy-mouthed excuse about the party’s defence of the practice, claiming that the party’s whip system forced them into it.
The Kildare TD said, “Sinn Féin is a democratic grassroots party and our policy is decided at our Ard Fheis. I have tried to change that party policy several times and I will try again. Sinn Féin does not do free votes. We believe in real solidarity, and we walk the hard road together.”
“It is a regrettable tactic for any Opposition party on the left to direct more fire at another rather than at the conservative forces that actually block change. It speaks to something else. It reflects divisive politics about personal purity before progress. The right must love it, because that is how it keeps winning,” she said.
Other Sinn Féin TDs claimed that the party Ard Fhéis has had debates and calls to ban fox hunting, and they didn’t have a clear policy on an issue like this when it came to a Dáil vote.
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said, “the mask has slipped for Sinn Féin in this regard,” and fellow Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes said, “it is truly galling to see three parties founded against colonialism supporting a colonial practice such as this.”
Independent TD Paul Gogarty remarked, “instead of tiocfaidh ár lá, it is tally-ho chaps, let us keep it going and keep the vestiges of the British Empire.”
Tensions between Sinn Féin and fellow opposition parties, on which they should be nominally aligned, have been evident in recent weeks; during a recent debate on M50 tolls, Labour TD and climate spokesperson Ciaran Ahern criticised Sinn Féin’s stance on carbon taxes, saying “Labour supports a just transition, not a punitive one.”
“Climate action must be socially just, but abandoning the polluter pays principle in climate policy altogether would harm both the environment and the very people we aim to protect,”
In a pre-Christmas debate on blister packs, heated scenes saw Southside Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward dub Labour TD Ged Nash a “f***ing muppet.”
October’s Presidential election, which saw the parties of the left work together to install Catherine Connolly in the Áras, now appears to be a mirage in the history of Irish progressive politics.
From the government side, presumably watching the opposition taking lumps out of each other with a bowl of popcorn, they said they had no plans to ban fox hunting.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon acknowledged the issue was “emotional” to some, noting that fox hunting represents a “long-held tradition and is a part of a way of life for those involved”
“While it is not an activity the vast majority of people engage in, it means an awful lot to the people who do.”
“People employed by hunting associations or who work in the kennels and care for the dogs and horses have woken up this morning not knowing whether there is a future for their job or animals when they go to bed tonight.”
He said, “it is entirely disproportionate to try to make criminals of these people overnight for engaging in an activity that, in many cases, stretches back generations.”
The Fine Gael TD from Kildare South asserted, “Deputy Coppinger and People Before Profit are pursuing this as a wedge issue, specifically designed to be emotive and confrontational. If they were honest, this is only a starting point for them. I have no doubt there are many other rural activities they would also like to ban.”