November 2008
Monthly Archive
Bullying by Irish Council Against Bloodsports
Posted by info on 19 Nov 2008 | Tagged as: Environment
I recently asked to be removed from the mailing list of the Irish Council Against Bloodsports. The Council has launched a campaign which has targeted the Green Party and John Gormley over the decision by the Minister for the Environment to issue a live hare coursing license to the Irish Coursing Club. Based on hare conservation concerns, the Council did not believe this license should have been issued.
It was explained to the Council on numerous occasions that the Minister was not empowered under any current legislation to refuse to issue the license on conservation grounds, and if he choose to do so, the refusal would be overturned in the Courts.
Despite this, the Council have persisted with their campaign, all the time suggesting that the Minister has this power.
For this reason, ie, that the Council’s campaign is misleading, I decided that I didn’t want to receive their updates anymore.
This prompted a call from Aideen Yourell of the Council, who told me that it was unprecedented for a member of the Green Party not to want to hear from the Council. She also threatened to contact the local media in Roscommon and Leitrim about my decision, and accused me of distancing myself from the ICABS to appease the hunt and blood sports lobby in Co. Roscommon.
A couple of things to make clear:
Aideen and the Council are quite welcome to contact the local media in Roscommon and Leitrim on this or any other issue.
I am implacably opposed to all blood sports and believe that they should be outlawed immediately, but understand that this can only be accomplished by legislation and not by Ministers acting by fiat.
I’m not sure what ICABS think they will achieve either through this campaign or by taking umbrage with individual Green Party members.
If the campaign were directed at the members of the Oireachtas who currently support live hare coursing, I would gladly support it, but I fail to see the point in a campaign that on the one hand is calling for something that isn’t legally possible, and on the other is targeting people amongst whom support for a ban on live hare coursing ban is unanimous.