Ward Union Horse and Hound

Hunting is vital, says jockey Paul Carberry

Ward Union Irish Times 19th December

Stag hunt ban is green ignorance gone rabid

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1218/1224260898929.html

Hunt ban Bill is ‘Green tail wagging FF dog’, meeting told

RONAN McGREEVY in Trim

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1215/1224260713599.html

THE ONLY licensed hunt in the country has been “thrown to the wolves” by the Government to keep the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Coalition together, a public meeting was told last night.

There was standing-room only in the Trim Castle Hotel for the meeting, called to protest against a proposed Bill that would outlaw stag hunting and therefore outlaw the Ward Union Hunt based in Co Meath.

Ward Union Hunt chairman Christy Reynolds said the decision to include a ban on stag hunting in the renegotiated Programme for the Government was a sop by Fianna Fáil to the Green Party and its leader, John Gormley.

“With a stroke of a pen they can take away 155 years of enjoyment and hunting,” he said.

The organisers delayed the start of the meeting by 20 minutes because of traffic jams due to protesters trying to access the venue. About 800 people from hunting associations across the country attended.

Hunting Association of Ireland chairman David Lalor said the number was “just a fraction” of those in the hunting community who supported the Ward Union.

Farmers’ Journal editor and former chairman of the Kildare Hunt, Matt Dempsey, said there were more people at last night’s meeting than would be at a Green Party convention.

Former chairman of Meath County Council and Fianna Fáil councillor Nick Killian said the proposed ban was “the Green tail wagging the Fianna Fáil dog” and he was “disgusted” with his party for supporting the ban.

Television personality and businessman Gavin Duffy said the most that hunting protesters could muster for a demonstration would be 12. “We could bring 120,000 to the gates of Leinster House if we wanted. We need Fianna Fáil to know that they are messing with the wrong people,” he said.

He said it was “shockingly disappointing” that Trim TD and Government Minister Noel Dempsey, who negotiated the Programme for Government, had not turned up.

He had “insulted” his constituents and showed where he stood on the issue of the ban. “He needs to know he has made a serious political error,” Mr Duffy added.

Other TDs from Meath and North Dublin attended, with the exception of North Dublin Green TD Trevor Sargent.

Meath East Fianna Fáil TD Thomas Byrne said he was not comfortable with the proposed ban, but would be supporting the Government. “I’m not a rebel,” he said, but he added that Fianna Fáil would not stand for any other prohibitions on hunting.

Dublin North TD Darragh O’Brien said he would bring the message of the meeting back to Government.

Ward Union HAI Rally TRIM

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1214/1224260654203.html

MEMBERS AND supporters of the Ward Union Hunt are holding a “monster rally” tonight in opposition to plans to ban stag hunting.

The hunt, which operates in Co Meath and north Co Dublin, is furious at the ban proposed by Minister for the Environment John Gormley. They have accused him of vindictively singling them out as they are the only licensed stag hunt in the country.

National Hunt jockey Paul Carberry, who is a Ward Union member, wrote an open letter to Taoiseach Brian Cowen last week warning him that Fianna Fáil TDs would pay the price at the next election if the ban was implemented.

One of the speakers at tonight’s rally in the Trim Castle Hotel will be businessman and Dragons’ Den member Gavin Duffy who accused Mr Gormley of “having a death wish” towards the hunt.

“For people who live in rural Ireland . . . we cannot understand how the one hunt that does not kill its quarry – the purpose of the stag hunt is not to kill the stag – is being targeted in this way.”

A commitment to ban stag hunting was included in the revised programme for Government agreed between the Green Party and Fianna Fáil earlier this year. A spokesman for Mr Gormley said yesterday that heads of the Bill were already agreed by Government and detailed legislation was being prepared.

Mr Duffy, a hunt supporter, said the Ward Union had support from across the hunting community and the proposed ban was causing alarm among those involved in wider country pursuits such as “hunting, shooting and fishing”.

The union brought hounds to the gates of Leinster House, the Custom House, the headquarters for the Department of the Environment, and to Navan Racecourse yesterday to publicise the meeting.

Ward Union secretary Ronan Griffin said its members were “not going to stand for” stag hunting being banned.

He accused the minister of singling out the hunt after losing a High Court action which placed onerous restrictions on it, including one that the hunt could pursue the scent of the stag and not the stag itself, a move which was described as playing “football without a football”.

“Anybody who is involved with animals need to be very aware of the extreme animal rights agenda that the Green Party is trying to bring into this country,” he said.

Hunt fans to converge for monster rally

SCORES of Drogheda hunt enthusiasts are expected to attend a monster rally to be held in the Trim Castle Hotel, Trim on Monday week December 14th at 8pm in support of the Ward Union Hunt.

‘ The battle begins here. We have been planning our campaign quietly behind the scenes but it goes public from here,’ said Christy Reynolds, the Ward Union Chairman.

‘If John Gormley thinks he is going to end the Ward Union without this government facing a massive backlash he is kidding himself.’

The purpose of the monster rally is to gather all those who support hunting, fishing and shooting in the north east and inform them of the campaign strategy for the first six months of 2010.

Ronan Griffin, Secretary of the Ward Union says ‘ This is as much a media event as a political rally and we expect the TV news cameras will be at the rally,’ he explained. ‘It is not about speaking to hunting people, it is about starting the campaign to win support from the wider public.’

All local TDs from both Meath constituencies and North County Dublin are invited.

‘Politicians of all parties in the constituencies have been invited’, said Mr Reynolds. ‘I know people are very annoyed and vexed but we will still ask all attendees to respectfully listen to the TDs. We have to find out, particularly from the government party TDs, what is their position on the Ward Union?’

Drogheda man and hunting enthusiast Gavin Duffy will speak at the rally as will Francis Lally, who has organised and lead the anti pylon campaign so successfully in the Royal County.

From the Irish Independent

Hunting Seminar

Hunting Seminar

Hunting Seminar – An Industry and Sport under Threat
at Tattersalls Ireland, Ratoath, Co. Meath on Sunday, 6th December, at 2.30 pm.

Hunt members, hunt staff and hunt officials are invited to attend.

For further information, please contact:
James Phelan 087 630 4240, or Joe Griffin 087 295 3276
or e-mail: imfhapro@gmail.com

Cork Examiner

rish Examiner

November 30, 2009 Monday

Wildlife detective lays down the law

SECTION: OPINION

LENGTH: 754 words

Alan Stewart, a retired police inspector who worked in Scotland, and who once specialised in poaching cases, believes the difference here is there are very strong lobby groups of which politicians and civil servants are wary, if not afraid.

Given the largely rural nature of the country until fairly recent times, Irish people were traditionally close to nature and, generally speaking, respected and loved animals.

However, there continues to be exceptions to that, frequently highlighted by appalling cases of cruelty.

How often do we see instances of dogs with ears cut off, badger-baiting and even poisoning of a variety of wildlife, including protected birds of prey?

Mr Stewart, an outspoken personality with long experience of case studies all over Britain and Ireland, has interesting reflections on what’s happening here. He talks about the continued use of poisoned meat bait which has killed eagles and kites in Kerry, Wicklow and Donegal. Such incidents may force people in Norway and Wales, who donate the birds for reintroduction programmes in Ireland, to stop doing so, he warns.

“The farming lobby is very strong in Ireland and any mention of prohibiting the laying of poison would be vehemently opposed by them,” he says.

Poisoned baits, including alpha-chloralose, are still legal here for vermin control. Alpha-chloralose is one of the biggest threats to the success of the golden eagle, white-tailed eagle and red kite reintroduction programmes, as well as to native birds of prey, he maintains. Environment Minister John Gormley has pledged to tighten up laws on the use of poisoned bait and action is awaited from him.

In his latest book, The Thin Green Line wildlife crime investigation in Britain and Ireland Mr Stewart instances cases of cruelty to a variety of animals in Ireland, providing a valuable eye-opener to what’s going.

He appears surprised to learn most wildlife crime in Ireland is not investigated by the gardaí, but by conservation rangers employed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

However, garda powers are broadly similar to those held by police in Britain and a garda, or another authorised person, may enter land where there’s a suspicion an offence is being committed under the Wildlife Act.

Over the years, we’ve seen many cases of cruelty, especially to cattle, dogs, horses and sheep, being prosecuted in the courts, usually with garda witnesses known to have gone above and beyond the call of duty in investigations.

Mr Stewart highlights the plight of greyhounds, cast aside, either because they are not winning races, or have finished their racing careers. He believes some Irish greyhound owners are just as bad as some of their British counterparts.

“Because of the callous and ruthless nature of some of the people involved, greyhound racing results in unbelievable cruelty to many dogs and, of course, a great deal of work for the gardaí and the ISPCA,’ he says. ‘In many cases, the dogs are bred for one purpose only and once that purpose is fulfilled they are disposable.’ Bats, which are harmless creatures, were the victims of an unusual wildlife crime in Co Galway, in June 2007.

A bat roost in a bridge that was in danger of collapse became public knowledge through newspaper publicity.

A week later, a council engineer arrived at the scene to find someone had placed a number of tyres under each arch and set them on fire, suffocating bats which retreated into crevices.

Several dead bats, and others which were barely alive, were found at the scene. Some of them had their wings so badly burned they had to be put down. Though there were major suspicions, the perpetrator or perpetrators were never caught.

Fox hunting is also dealt with by Mr Stewart. Banned in Britain in its traditional form, where the intent is for the hounds to catch and kill the fox, it is still legal in the Republic, a situation that attracts hunts from Britain.

While he has no issue with fox hunting as it is carried out in Scotland, where the intention is sometimes part of pest control, he says what makes the sport worse is when the unfortunate fox being hunted goes to ground and is dug up.

This happened during a hunt, in 2008, with two Irish foxhound packs. Men dug foxes out of their underground refuge with spades and irons bars and then killed them in direct violation of what might be described as ‘good sport’.

You’d imagine foxes that had outsmarted the hounds would, sportingly, be given credit for that and allowed rest in subterranean safety until the next chase.