NI committee withholds support for Hunting with Dogs Bill

Committee reserves endorsement

The Northern Ireland Assembly’s Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee has reserved its endorsement of the Hunting with Dogs Bill until members have consulted within their parties, after a discussion dominated by the Bill’s potential impact on working gundogs.

Alliance MLA John Blair, the Bill’s sponsor, told the committee the legislation is clear in its intent to ban the killing of wild mammals with dogs, with exemptions including the use of up to two dogs for livestock protection, human health or biodiversity. It also means to ban trail hunting and terrier work. Mr Blair also clarified that hunting with guns falls outside the Bill’s scope entirely.

When pressed by committee members on how officers would distinguish a hunter from a dog walker, Mr Blair said the difference would be apparent from clothing, demeanour and group size. Committee chair Robbie Butler noted that, given the lobbying environment around such legislation, there is sometimes a need for greater detail within the Bill itself to back up such assurances.

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Gundog concerns raised by committee members

Members also raised the position of those out shooting with multiple gundogs. Mr Blair identified no explicit protection in the Bill’s wording, instead arguing the two-dog threshold was reasonable. Countryside Alliance Ireland director Gary McCartney had previously warned that the Bill could leave game shooters at risk of prosecution, with walked-up shooting and gundog work potentially caught by language designed to target organised hunts, and that assurances contained in supplementary guidance rather than statute carry no legal weight once the Bill becomes law.

The committee’s endorsement is not required for the Bill to proceed; that will be determined by a vote of the full Assembly at second stage. But a committee’s public position carries political weight, and its decision to reserve its endorsement until parties have been consulted leaves the Bill’s prospects unclear.