[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]
If our ecosystems and our precious flora and fauna are to survive, we’ll need our political climate to change - Read John Fitzgerald's letter in the Irish Times and please scroll down for action alert...
Sinn Féin and EU nature restoration law
Political backsliding
Irish Times, Feb 29 2024
Sir, – The passage of the nature restoration law by the European Parliament is most welcome, but I’d worry over both the hostile reaction from the influential agricultural sector and the apparent split within Sinn Féin on the issue, with the party’s sole MEP, Chris MacManus, voting against the law while Sinn Féin’s European election candidate Lynn Boylan welcomed the law (“European Parliament passes nature restoration law despite political backlash”, News, February 27th).
Many other so-calling binding EU laws have been passed that Irish governments have failed to implement.
Once certain lobby groups flex their muscles, the politicians run scared and concerns about the ravaging of nature take second place to electoral self-interest.
Could Sinn Féin in government be relied upon to push through the changes agreed by MEPs?
While the support of Irish MEPs for the measure does send out the right signal, everyone committed to the recovery of nature on this island must be on guard against political backsliding.
We can’t afford to be complacent, given that the status of an estimated 85 per cent of EU protected habitats here are deemed to be “unfavourable”, and more than 56 per cent of plant species have been decimated since the 1950s.
The Irish hare is under threat from urbanisation and the negative impact of modern agriculture. It has lost large swathes of its habitat and, instead of taking drastic action to arrest its steady decline across the island, successive governments have licensed coursing clubs to capture thousands of the timid creatures for “sport”.
The Government has backtracked on its pledge to establish a wildlife crime unit that would effectively clamp down on destruction of protected species and habitats. The plan has been shelved, despite the urgent need for such a body.
If our ecosystems and our precious flora and fauna are to survive, let alone recover, we’ll need more than just the passing of another law, however progressive it might look on paper.
We’ll need our political climate to change!
JOHN FITZGERALD,
Callan, Co Kilkenny.
ACTION ALERT
Plans for a new wildlife crime unit were announced in October 2020, with Minister Malcolm Noonan saying at the time that “it is proposed to establish this dedicated unit during 2021” and that it would “ensure a strategic and standardised approach to dealing with illegal persecution of wildlife”. https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2020-12-15a.656
Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien added that the unit would “put a greater focus on the issue of wildlife crime, including the illegal hunting of hares.” However, there was a subsequent U-turn, with plans for the wildlife crime unit scrapped.
Call on Heritage Minister Darragh O'Brien and Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan to urgently establish a wildlife crime unit.
Minister Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal)
Tel: (01) 618 3802 OR (086) 251 9893
Email: darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; minister@housing.gov.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DarraghOBrienTD
X: http://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD
Malcolm Noonan TD (Green Party, Carlow Kilkenny)
Minister of State for Nature
Tel: (01) 618 3148 OR (01) 618 3156
Email: mos@housing.gov.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/
X: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm
If you have information on wildlife crimes, please contact the Gardai – the Garda Confidential phone number is 1800 666 111. Contact details for local Garda stations can be found at https://www.garda.ie/en/Contact-Us/Station-Directory
Contact the NPWS at Tel: 01 888 2000 / Email: natureconservation@npws.gov.ie
HELP THE HARES: Contact Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan and urge them to show compassion, respect the wishes of the majority and stop licensing hare coursing.
Email “Stop licensing cruel hare coursing” to minister@housing.gov.ie; mos@housing.gov.ie
Minister Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal)
Tel: (01) 618 3802 OR (086) 251 9893
Email: minister@housing.gov.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DarraghOBrienTD
X: http://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD
Malcolm Noonan TD (Green Party, Carlow Kilkenny)
Minister of State for Heritage
Tel: (01) 618 3148 OR (01) 618 3156
Email: mos@housing.gov.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/
X: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm
With a RED C opinion poll confirming that a 77 per cent majority of citizens want hare coursing banned (with just 9% disagreeing with a ban), it is now time for politicians to consign this nasty bloodsport to history. Join us in contacting all TDs and urging them to act to ensure that a ban is urgently introduced. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
SEE ALSO
European Parliament approves the Nature Restoration Law
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2024/02/27/european-parliament-approves-the-nature-restoration-law/
Sinn Féin urged to back a ban on cruel hare coursing
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2022/07/04/sinn-fein-urged-to-back-a-ban-on-cruel-hare-coursing/
A wildlife crime unit is urgently needed in Ireland
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2024/02/25/a-wildlife-crime-unit-is-urgently-needed-in-ireland/
Sinn Fein officially condones one of the worst forms of animal cruelty
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2023/11/17/sinn-fein-officially-condones-one-of-the-worst-forms-of-animal-cruelty/
Bloodsports vote – Shame on Ard Comhairle of Sinn Féin
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2023/11/11/bloodsports-vote-shame-on-ard-comhairle-of-sinn-fein/
Fox hunting is savagery and should be banned – Sinn Fein TD Réada Cronin
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2023/11/16/fox-hunting-is-savagery-and-should-be-banned-sinn-fein-td-reada-cronin/