[Note: Any donations made through Change.org go directly to Change.org. If you wish to donate to the Irish Council Against Blood Sports to support our campaigns, you can do so at https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports Thank you]
Shame on Springfort Hall Country House Hotel in Cork for its connections to cruel fox hunting.
The Mallow hotel and wedding venue is set to host a Duhallow Hunt Ball on 10th February 2024. It has been hosting hunt balls since at least 2011.
A Facebook event page for the upcoming ball states: “hunting and hunt ball deal available for visitors ... Special discounted room rate available in Springfort...Please arrange directly with hotel” https://www.facebook.com/events/161847653653935
In December, Springfort Hall Country House Hotel hosted a hunt during which several foxes were terrorised by a pack of 29 hounds.
According to a report in the Irish Field, “Springfort Hall, a fine old country house just north of Mallow, took on a new role last Saturday when they hosted a meet of the dashing Duhallow [hunt]”. (Good day's sport with the Duhallows, Irish Field, 15 December 2023).
Among those taking part in the hunt was Fianna Fail Councillor and hunt master Pat Hayes. He was photographed sitting on a horse next to the pack of dogs in front of the hotel. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/theirishfield/WEBFILES/000/796/852/2108138-796852.jpg
“There to greet one and all was Joint-Master Pat Hayes, who lives locally near New Twopothouse and was area manager for the day. He was out with his daughter, Dr Patricia Hayes, currently working in Mallow General Hospital. Both were beautifully turned out, as you might expect, as Pat runs Munster’s leading tack and sporting shop in nearby Mallow.”
The hunt found “immediately across the Doneraile road in Dermot O’Riordan’s which held a brace [two foxes]”.
The huntsman “quickly had his hounds settled on the hunted fox and they ran on into Lycett’s, who are very large landowners in the area” and “ran on into Breen’s and Cronin’s before making a large left-handed circle with some smashing jumping before returning to Lycett’s, where he was marked to ground and left.”
Later, another fox was found behind the Hazel Tree pub and was forced to run for his life “from O’Connell’s to Cronin’s and Ruby’s, much of it on stubble” and was “eventually marked to ground”.
The fate of this fox was not revealed but in fox hunting terminology, “marked to ground” refers to the point when the pack of hounds chase the fox into an earth or drain and this is typically followed by the arrival of the hunt’s terrierman who cruelly catch and kill the fox using shovels, spades and terriers.
After this, the hunters and hounds targetted another fox - “they hunted on with some really challenging jumping through Cronin’s and O’Regan’s, where they eventually marked to ground.”
The Irish Field report referred to this shameful persecution of wildlife as “a good day’s sport” and noted that “it was nearly dark before riders returned to their boxes at Springfort Hall”.
As revealed by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports last year, the Duhallow fox hunt has received a massive cash injection of over €630,000 from Irish taxpayer-funded Horse Racing Ireland in the past decade. Following a Dail Question from Paul Murphy TD, it emerged that €10.4 million in point-to-point racing grants have been channelled into the coffers of 66 hunts around Ireland. This included a massive hand-out of €1,528,200 in 2022.
Point-to-points are horse races organised by hunt clubs. They are a significant source of income for hunts and effectively prop up the bloodsport clubs. Without the Horse Racing Ireland grants, race events would not be viable and this would likely lead to the demise of many hunts.
Cruel fox hunting should not be happening in modern Ireland. A RED C opinion poll, commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, shows that a 77% majority agree that the government should ban fox hunting. The poll found that just 12 per cent disagree with a ban on fox hunting.
Join us in urging the Irish Government to finally ban this barbaric bloodsport.
ACTION ALERT
Boycott the Springfort Hall Country House Hotel and wedding venue. Don't support any business which supports bloodsports.
Tell Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Micheal Martin to respect the wishes of the majority and ban fox hunting in Ireland.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Tanaiste Micheál Martin TD
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
X: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Contact the leaders of the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour to urge them to back a ban on fox hunting and all bloodsports.
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
X: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
X: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie
X: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/
Contact Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour Party TDs and tell them to back a ban.
Email Fianna Fail TDs
micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie; brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie; aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; michael.moynihan.td@oireachtas.ie; Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie; michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie; jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; jack@jackchambers.ie; anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie; eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie; james.lawless@oireachtas.ie; sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie; sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie; barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie; willie.odea@oireachtas.ie; niall.collins@oireachtas.ie; Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie; dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie; thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie; marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie; jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie; mary.butler@oireachtas.ie; james.browne@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie; cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie; james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie; padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie; john.lahart@oireachtas.ie; cormac@cormacdevlin.ie; normafoley1@eircom.net; joe.flaherty@oireachtas.ie; Stephen.Donnelly@oireachtas.ie
Email Fine Gael TDs
leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie; Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie; joe.carey@oireachtas.ie; david.stanton@oir.ie; colm.burke@oireachtas.ie; michael.creed@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie; joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie; richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie; emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie; neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie; josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie; Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie; bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie; kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O’Donovan@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie; alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie; michael.ring@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; damien.english@oireachtas.ie; frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie; paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie
Email Green Party TDs
Eamon.Ryan@greenparty.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie; patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie; francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie; neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie; brian.leddin@oireachtas.ie; steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie; marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie; roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie; ossian.smyth@oireachtas.ie
Email Sinn Fein TDs
MaryLou.McDonald@oireachtas.ie; john.brady@oireachtas.ie; pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Crowe@oireachtas.ie; david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie; Pearse.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; dessie.ellis@oir.ie; kathleen.funchion@oireachtas.ie; martinkennysf@gmail.com; denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie; imelda.munster@oireachtas.ie; eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie; donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie; aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie; louiseoreillysf@gmail.com; maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie; Brian.Stanley@oireachtas.ie; mark.ward@oireachtas.ie; chris.andrews@oireachtas.ie; martin.browne@oireachtas.ie; matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie; sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie; roseconwaywalsh@eircom.net; reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie; pa.daly@oireachtas.ie; paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie; mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie; thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie; johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie; claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie; padraig.maclochlainn@oir.ie; johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie; ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie; darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie; patriciaryan975@gmail.com; pauline.tully@oireachtas.ie
Email Labour Party TDs
ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie; brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie; sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie; aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie; duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie; gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Kelly@oireachtas.ie
If you are a landowner, make your land off-limits to hunters. Find out more about how to do this on our Farmers/Landowners Page – http://www.banbloodsports.com/farmers.htm
Witness the cruelty of foxhunting
http://www.banbloodsports.com/videos.htm
https://youtu.be/cbLKs9pgQno
SEE ALSO
Horse Racing Ireland’s shameful €10.4 million in funding to cruel fox hunts
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2023/05/02/horse-racing-irelands-shameful-e10-4-million-in-funding-to-cruel-fox-hunts/
Revealed: Fianna Fail Councillor is a foxhunt master
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/revealed-fianna-fail-councillor-is-foxhunt-master/
DUHALLOW HUNT CRUELTY
Fox pursued by 37 hounds for over 13 miles: A fox was pursued for over 13 miles during a hunt in County Cork last month, it has been revealed. According to an Irish Field report about a pre-Christmas [2014] Duhallow hunt, the unfortunate fox was disturbed near Churchtown and chased through a bog and a wood before being “marked to ground” near a golf club.
The Irish Field report refers to the persecuted fox as “a smashing dog fox who set his mask for the Bog of Annagh”. The pack of 37 dogs chased the fox through Ardglass Wood and towards Dromina village “before swinging back and marking their fox to ground near Charleville Golf Club”.
The report outlines that the fox’s ordeal lasted for a distance of 13.2 miles, eight miles of which was covered in one hour and 40 minutes.
-------------------------
"Hounds drew a small covert near the church. Almost immediately first season litter siblings Treason and Tracer opened and a dog fox was away." from a report on the Duhallow Foxhounds, Irish Field, 13 February 2015
-------------------------
Terror as hunt invades farmyard: A 6-year-old boy was left hysterical and screaming in terror as Ireland's oldest hunt came thundering through a farmyard in County Cork [February 2007]. The boy's mother told RTE's Liveline programme that she feared for her children's safety and roared at the hunters to get out.
Speaking to presenter Derek Davis, Margo O'Keeffe described how mounted hunters from the Duhallow Foxhounds rode around the side of a barn on the Milford farm and came so close to her that muck was spattered on to her clothes. "The hunt horses came within three yards of the concrete yard where my kids were playing," she said.
"[Me and my aunt] went out obviously - because my children were out there and I wanted to protect my children - and we started roaring at them to get out of there, they had no permission," she added. "They were so close to me that there were spatters of muck on my clothes. I was shouting at my children to stay behind me. My son was hysterical; he was running around the yard and I was shouting at him to get into the house."
The aunt expressed her upset at the incident. "I was very upset and very angry," she said. "It was the fact that this was an invasion [into] a private farm in a private area. We should be entitled to that privacy."
She also told of how her fear for the safety of the children prompted her to lob stones into the air to try and divert the hunters away from the yard. She insisted that she was aiming to miss the horses but, regardless, one of the men on horseback gave her this abusive response: "if that f***ing stone hits my horse, I'll put that f***ing stone straight through your window."