Northern Ireland: Hunting legislation off voters’ agenda research shows

Countryside Alliance Ireland has called on Stormont to focus on the priorities of people in Northern Ireland after a new poll revealed that hunting with dogs is irrelevant to voters.

The organisation is calling on John Blair MLA to drop proposed legislation and says that the research shows his “obsession with legislating on hunting is completely out of step with the priorities of people in Northern Ireland”.

Mr Blair has vowed to bring forward hunting legislation again after his last Bill failed, but not a single one of the 1050 people surveyed listed fox hunting as one of their priorities for Stormont.

When asked to rank how issues would affect their vote at the next election voters ranked hunting well below issues like tightening the law on domestic abuse, ending holiday hunger for children and improving disability rights.

The survey asked:

What are the 3 main issues the political parties at Stormont should be concentrating on?

Open-ended responses were collected and analysed into the following themes:

• Health (including NHS) – The most frequently mentioned concern, indicating strong public demand for healthcare improvements.
• Economy – A major priority, with concerns relating to jobs, inflation, and economic stability.
• Education – Repeated mentions indicate public interest in school funding, curriculum reforms, and access to education.
• Housing – A significant issue, tied to affordability, availability, and homelessness.
• Infrastructure – Includes transport, roads, and public services.

Not a single response referenced hunting or managing wild animals.

Gary McCartney, Director of Countryside Alliance Ireland, said:

“This research that John Blair’s obsession with legislating on hunting is completely out of step with the priorities of people in Northern Ireland and threatens the delivery of the agenda set out in the Programme for Government. There are any number of critical problems facing the countryside and Northern Ireland as a whole. Seeking to waste more of Stormont’s time on an issue that is irrelevant to nearly every voter is selfish and wasteful.

“If Mr Blair continues with his pointless pursuit of hunting this research sends a very clear message to the Executive, the Speaker and MLA’s about the issues that the people of Northern Ireland want them to focus on, and hunting is not one of them.”

• Polling was carried out by Belfast based polling and market research company LucidTalk. The project was carried out online between 14th - 17th February 2025 and obtained 1,050 validated responses. The project targeted an established Northern Ireland opinion panel with quotas on gender, age-group, area of residence, and community background, in order to be demographically representative of Northern Ireland. All data results produced are accurate to a margin of error of +/-2.3%, at 95% confidence.
• This article was originally published on April 15 2025 by Agriland and can be viewed here.