There is to be no let-up of the horrific abuse meted out to Ireland’s hares and foxes, following weeks of talks between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party, with not a mention of bloodsports issues in the Programme for Government. It is to be expected of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, whose numbers include just a handful of bloodsports enthusiasts, but banning bloodsports is in fact Green Party policy, and they should have insisted on a ban on barbaric foxhunting and hare coursing.

The Greens had the benefit of the results of a RED C poll, carried out in September 2019, which showed that a whopping majority of 77% agree that the government should ban both foxhunting and hare coursing, yet they capitulated to the bullying minority in FF and FG.

The disgraced greyhound industry will continue to get millions in funding, thanks to the Greens’ agreement, contingent on “a guarantee of welfare standards being upheld”, “strict monitoring”, delivery of “greyhound welfare and rehoming programmes”. Yet nothing about the elephant in the room, the overbreeding of greyhounds, which causes all the misery in the first place.

Bringing an end to live exports, especially to non-EU countries, was a Green policy. Again it was another fudging exercise, with the Greens backing down and agreeing to hollow promises of “additional resources to monitor welfare standards”. But who will monitor what happens to the unfortunate animals when they are put to sea and end up in the likes of Egypt, Turkey, and other such countries, where animals can be subjected to horrendous suffering, as seen in stark videos filmed by undercover animal welfare groups.

Tragically, apart from a promise to “extend the badger vaccination programme and end badger culling as soon as possible, consistent with the best scientific and veterinary advice”, there is little or nothing in this Programme for Government to alleviate the suffering of animals used in bloodsports, for racing and those shipped out of the country to face the horrors awaiting them in absolute hellholes.