First victory in pro-hunt campaign

Hunt Kennels are to be exempt from the new Puppy Farm legislation. This is the first step in the Hunting Association of Ireland's campaign to hold country sports open.

News of the derogation came in a letter from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government after intensive HAI negotiations. The Department's letter states "that the exemption sought by affiliates of the Hunting Association of Ireland, from the proposed regulations governing the management of dog breeding establishments is granted."

Former Minister for the Environment Dick Roche had told the hunts that as non-commercial breeding units, hunt kennels would be exempt from the regulations. However, when John Gormley got into office he reneged on this agreement. Gormley wanted to limit the numbers of dogs (hounds) and breeding bitches to be housed, curtail the numbers that could be transported and increase licensing costs (approx €5,000 per kennel). Many hunt clubs have been breeding hounds for generations and some of their stud books can trace the lineage back centuries. It was a blatant effort to get a hunt ban by stealth.

This first victory in the HAI campaign was announced to the rally in the Silver Springs conference centre in Cork last Thursday, attended by close to 1,000 people. The rally was chaired by HAI chairman David Daly, who reported that nine Fianna Fail TDs were invited with five attending and letters of support coming from the other four.

The politicians got it hot and heavy from an audience that could not understand how the Greens, with less than 5% of the vote and only representing an urban population, could have such an influence.

They were reminded that although the antis got through the ban in Britain, it took more than 700 hours of Parliamentary debate and then only got through via the rarely used Parliament Act.

The recent leak of an email sent from an employee of Sherry Fitzgerald (Auctioneers) at its Meath offices urging a Meath TD to request Minister Gormley to issue a licence to the Ward Union Hunt has caused concerns. The e-mail found its way to ICABS before the TD got his answer from Gormely and ICABS contacted Sherry Fitzgerald's head office for the company's stance on stag hunting.

The leak is thought to have come from the Minister's anti-hunt staff but ICABS director Aideen Yourell has denied this, saying it came from anti-hunt TD Tony Gregory. Tony, we believe, is quite ill at the moment, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

One way or the other, there are many questions about this and the fact that anti-hunt protestors were on hand to demonstrate at the Dail on the day that the Wards were issued with the unworkable licence. It appears they had got advance word of the announcement.

While receiving the good news of the derogation, HAI seems to have learned a hard lesson from the Ward Union Licence experience and is going to make sure the exemption means the regulations will not apply to the HAI in any other guise. Until the entire regulations are published, it intends to be vigilant. To that end there is another rally tonight in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe, Co Galway (Thursday 17 January) at 8pm and on Thursday 24 January in the Mermaid, William St, Listowel, Co Kerry, at 8pm.

High on the agendas of both rallies will also be the Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Bill, which is in the hands of junior Green Party minister for Agriculture Trevor Sargent. Trevor is well known for his anti-hunt bias and support for the ICABS (Irish Council Against Blood Sports) and wants Government funding for Ireland's premier and prestigious racing industry cut by 75%. It will be interesting to see if Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan will be able to keep clever Trevor from running wild. On the cruelty aspect, it will be equally interesting to see how Trevor can appease his ICABS friends on the religious slaughter of animals.

Methinks that the Green Party is taking every advantage of An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's current troubles.

Late Late Show hunting debate axed

A debate on hunting scheduled for last Friday's Late Late Show was axed, according to the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS), because hunting representatives refused to take part.

"Hunters run scared of Late Late Show," ran the heading in the ICABS website but this is far from the truth. It appears that RTE did not agree with the full HAI representation. The station and some of the anti-hunt faction objected to the association's press officer, Brian Munn, being on the pro-hunt panel.

Brian is an articulate, well-informed and polished debater who has tackled hunting issues with the anti side, which included Aideen Yourell, Bernie Wright, John Fitzgerald of ICABS and Philip Lynch, chairman of the Farmers Against Foxhunting and Trespass Group, on many occasions.

Gavin Duffy of HAI, who was asked by RTE to form the pro-hunt group, told The Irish Horse that the RTE researcher did not want Brian as he thought he was overexposed in the media on Irish country sports, having appeared earlier in the week on radio.

Gavin, at the request of RTE, formed a group that was to include a young woman, but he wanted Munn and an Irish Farmers' Association member to be included to represent the farming community.

The HAI was not happy that Phillip was representative of the farming community and so requested an IFA person.

A RTE spokesman said that following negotiations with representatives of HAI, there was no agreement on the format of the debate and Duffy pulled HAI out at the last minute.

According to Gavin, talks on the proposed debate started before Christmas and continued intermittently up to the Wednesday before the show, with RTE sticking to its guns on Munn. Possibly a combination of the Christmas holidays and inadequate research led to a rushed job that resulted in HAI pulling out of the Show.

Gavin and his team, which included Brian Munn, barrister Sue Quirke, jockey Barry Geraghty and Fine Gael TD Shane McAntee, said they are always willing to debate hunting issues anywhere as long as there is a level playing field.

Phillip Lynch is the man who shot and killed hounds belonging to the Kilmoganny Hunt and also fired a shotgun blast over the heads of some children on ponies who had entered his land by mistake.

Only last week on the public road Phillip drove his 4x4 at speed towards the Kilmoganny huntsman Paul O'Brien. At the last minute Phillip swerved, avoiding Paul by inches. The incident was witnessed by many followers and the hunt committee is to discuss the issue at its next meeting to decide what action should be taken.