Dec
15

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.

Dec
15

ward

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.