A TD and an ex-farmer locked horns on air about plans to axe fur farms.
The Bill, put forward by People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger and supported by other government parties, aims to ban the farming of minks on three farms in Ireland.
200,000 minks are reared in Ireland per year for their fur and Ms Coppinger hopes the Bill that will be put forward on July 3 could pass through the Dail quite quickly.
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, she said: “All of the evidence shows that mink are wild animals.
“They’re meant to be solitary. So putting them into groups in metal cages is completely unnatural.
“Now we’ve had Veterinary Ireland coming out saying that you can’t regulate it and you can’t make it kinder because it’s not farming.
“Then at six months, the mink are gassed, which is extremely cruel, and their skins are pulled off.
“Country after country have been banning fur so we’re very behind, we’re very laggard on animal rights.
“Big fashion houses have been forced to turn their back on fur farming because young people are completely unwilling to accept it because they see it as cruel and barbaric.
“The fact that Veterinary Ireland have come out and said this has been a game changer in terms of persuading people.
“Mink in fur farms do not have a life worth living in any way.
“It’s an ailing industry, there are now only 47 staff across three fur farms in Ireland.”
However, fur farmer Redmond O’Hanlon defended the farming and branded the proposed bill as “absolute nonsense”.
“It all began when Walt Disney gave Mickey Mouse a personality - that’s when animal rights began.
“Mink have been domesticated for over 100 years and while they’re wild in their nature, they’re not in their environment.
“It is absolute nonsense.
“I was a mink farmer for 30 years. I was introduced into mink farming by a vet, my partner was a vet.
“Mink were reared like our children, only if they’re looked after will they produce the quality fur we’re looking for.”
He continued, saying that because mink are not considered an intelligent animal, they didn’t want to be outside.
“A mink is not like a dog. A dog has a reasonable amount of intelligence; a mink is a mindless animal.
“They don’t think, they just murder. They don’t look at the hills and think they want to walk out there.
“Animals do not have rights, human beings have the rights. But human beings have the responsibility to make sure that animals are treated properly.”
Ms Coppinger defended her point and said: “The level of intelligence of an animal does not mean that they should be mistreated by humans.”
Over 14 countries in Europe have banned fur farming, most recently Norway and it was banned over 20 years ago in UK.
