Funding the fallout, voting down the fix; a Tipperary contradiction that now needs immediate answers from elected representatives.
Tipperary is far from short when it comes to finding people with big hearts. You see it in the dog rescues and sanctuaries that keep going on often bare fumes, using volunteers who juggling jobs, families and fundraising, while trying to pick up the pieces for neglected animals nobody else will take responsibility.
So it lands badly, to put it mildly, when our county’s TDs can applaud welfare funding with one hand and, with the other, vote down a measure many people see as a basic line in the sand, when it comes to animal cruelty.
See Link Here: An act to amend the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 to ban the hunting of a fox or
foxes; and to provide for related matters.
On Wednesday, December 17th 2025, Dáil Éireann rejected the Animal Health and Welfare (Ban on Fox Hunting) Bill 2025 at Second Stage, by 124 votes to 24.
‘Sionnach‘ also Irish word for “Fox”. Its etymology is sometimes linked to the word “shenanigans,” meaning “I play the fox”.
Was this an attempt by TDs at catching the farming vote?
The Bill aimed to outlaw the use of dogs to hunt or flush out foxes, and to prohibit trapping or snaring foxes in order to eradicate them.
In County Tipperary, the Dáil voting record was as clear as it was discomforting.
According to Tipperary local Press & Radio, Mr Séamus Healy was the only Tipperary TD to vote in favour of the Bill. Mr Mattie McGrath, Mr Michael Lowry, Mr Ryan O’Meara, and Mr Michael Murphy voted against the Bill. Mr Alan Kelly as usual sat on the fence, abstaining.
That’s not a “difference of emphasis”. That’s Tipperary’s Dáil delegation, overwhelmingly, either opposing the ban outright or declining to back it. And here’s where the contradiction bites: only days earlier, government announced what it described as the highest-ever allocation under the Animal Welfare Grants Programme, €6,434,803 to 94 charities nationwide.
Tipperary’s share, some of our elected representatives reported, was less than €134,000 across six groups this year; down from “just shy of €200,000” for same six groups granted funding last year.
The six Tipperary allocations named were:
- Mo Chara Animal Rescue (Thurles): €38,000.
- Roscrea SPCA: €37,650
- Haven Rescue (Roscrea): €25,000
- Great Hounds in Need (Kilcash): €12,000
- Cappanagarrane Horse Rescue (Mullinahone): €11,175
- PAWS (Mullinahone): €10,000, (down from over €76,000 last year according to local radio).
Let me be crystal clear: those groups deserve every cent and more. They are doing essential public-good work, rescuing, rehabilitating, rehoming, some educating.
But that is exactly why voters are entitled to ask a tougher question than the usual “aren’t the grants grand?” photo-op.
Why is “animal welfare” easy when it’s tidy, but difficult when it’s political?
Grants are safe. Everyone likes a grant. A minister gets to say “record funding”; a TD gets a local headline; the public gets to feel the county is decent and compassionate. And yes, to be fair, it is.
But fox hunting legislation forces a proper choice. Not a vague sentiment. A vote.
Supporters of the ban argue it’s simple: using packs of dogs to chase and tear apart a wild animal for sport, belongs in the past. Opponents dress it up as “rural reality” and “pest control”. Yet reporting on the Bill is clear on one crucial point: it would not have outlawed the shooting of foxes on one’s land for the purpose of protecting livestock.
This was not, in black-and-white terms, a proposal to leave farmers helpless. It was a proposal to stop a specific practice: using dogs to hunt, flush out foxes, before tearing them into pieces, and other certain killing methods by trapping/snaring.
So when four Tipperary TDs voted against it and one abstained, people are entitled to ask: what, exactly, are you defending and why?
“No” is not a policy. If the argument is that the Bill was flawed, then where is the alternative from our representatives?
- Where is the concrete plan for stronger animal welfare rules that reduce suffering in practice, not just in speeches?
- Where is the push for enforceable oversight, transparent standards, independent monitoring, real penalties?
- Where is the willingness to say, publicly, that certain traditions don’t get a free pass any more because they are vote catching, loud, organised, or longstanding?
Because while Leinster House argues, it’s local communities that carry the consequences of a lax welfare culture, and the rescues that pick up the pieces. The same county that depends on Mo Chara, Roscrea SPCA, Haven, Great Hounds in Need, Cappanagarrane, and PAWS to cope with the everyday reality of neglect, abandonment and injury is being asked to accept political leadership that stops short the minute the issue becomes controversial.
A simple ask for 2026: explain yourselves.
Tipperary doesn’t need performative compassion. It needs consistency.
If you’re Mattie McGrath, Michael Lowry, Ryan O’Meara or Michael Murphy, tell people plainly why you voted against the ban, given it did not prevent farmers from shooting foxes to protect livestock.
If you’re Alan Kelly, tell people why you abstained when the county’s position was being written into the record.
And if you’re Séamus Healy, tell people what you think should happen next, now that the Bill has been defeated.
Here’s the call to action: contact your TD, not with slogans, but with two questions:
- If you oppose this ban, what specific alternative will you support to strengthen animal welfare in this area?
- Will you commit to voting for stronger protections the next time the issue comes before the Dáil?
Because funding the rescues is the right thing to do. But it is not enough to keep funding the fallout while voting down efforts, however imperfect, to reduce cruelty at source.
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