The owner of a County Wicklow hotel and wedding venue is a fox hunt master.
According to a hunt report in the Irish Field of 4 February 2025 "Joe O’Flynn from Rathsallagh House Hotel, one of Ireland’s leading wedding venues, has hunting in his blood"
https://www.theirishfield.ie/amp/sport-horse/other-disciplines/hunting-changes-afoot-in-kilkenny-854364
Joe O’Flynn, is a joint-master of the Kilkenny Foxhounds - a hunt with kennels at Mount Juliet in Thomastown, County Kilkenny.
The Irish Field report outlined that "with a short few words of welcome from senior master Joe O’Flynn, our huntsman took his [25 hounds] to their first draw."
During the hunt, foxes were terrorised by the pack of dogs, including "a fine dog fox" who was chased across a road and into a woodland where "he was marked to ground".
Alongside the Kilkenny hunters was “a visiting group from the Carmarthenshire [hunt] in South Wales”.
Joe O’Flynn’s Rathsallagh House Hotel in Dunlavin, County Wicklow shamefully hosted another hunt - the Kildare Foxhounds - for their closing meet of the season in March 2025. An online gallery of photos from that meeting shows hunters on horseback and a pack of hounds on the grounds of Rathsallagh House Hotel https://zenfolio.page.link/cfUDz as well as images of a fox running https://zenfolio.page.link/BHJYt
Rathsallagh House Hotel also hosts fox hunt balls, including the Kildare Hunt Ball on 1st March 2025.
See a photo of a red-coated Joe O’Flynn on a horse at the start of a fox hunt in 2023
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/theirishfield/WEBFILES/000/748/201/1949293-748201.jpg
Shame on the Irish Government for allowing fox hunting to continue in 2025. A RED C opinion poll, commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, shows that a 77% majority (in both urban and rural areas) agree that the government should ban fox hunting. The poll found that just 12 per cent disagree with a ban.
DID YOU KNOW? Irish taxpayer-funded Horse Racing Ireland has handed out €13,796,550 to hunts since 2014 (in the form of point-to-point racing grants), including over €1.7 million in 2024. The Kilkenny Foxhounds hunt has received €234,650, including €38,250 in 2024.
ACTION ALERT
Boycott businesses that support fox hunting.
It’s time for a ban on cruel fox hunting. Contact TDs and urge them to support Ruth Coppinger TD's Animal Health & Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill when it returns to Dail Eireann.
Visit the Oireachtas website for email addresses and phone numbers for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/34
Email all Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein TDs now:
*** Fianna Fail
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*** Fine Gael
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*** Sinn Féin
matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie; pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie; thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie; donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie; Pearse.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; padraig.maclochlainn@oireachtas.ie; denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie; MaryLou.McDonald@oireachtas.ie; ann.graves@oireachtas.ie; louise.oreilly@oireachtas.ie; eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie; mark.ward@oireachtas.ie; dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie; maire.devine@oireachtas.ie; aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Crowe@oireachtas.ie; paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie; louis.ohara@oireachtas.ie; mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie; pa.daly@oireachtas.ie; reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie; shonagh.niraghallaigh@oireachtas.ie; maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie; sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie; ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie; rose.conwaywalsh@oireachtas.ie; darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie; johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie; claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie; martin.kenny@oireachtas.ie; david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie; conor.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie; john.brady@oireachtas.ie; fionntan.osuilleabhain@oireachtas.ie; natasha.newsomedrennan@oireachtas.ie; cathy.bennett@oireachtas.ie; donna.mcgettigan@oireachtas.ie; joanna.byrne@oireachtas.ie
Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein. Tell them that you want fox hunting, hare coursing and all bloodsports banned.
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Tel: 01 619 4000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Simon Harris TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01 281 3727
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Sign and share the “Ban Blood Sports in Ireland” petition
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
Watch our campaign video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG9rMlE3VAQ
SEE ALSO
Old excuses for fox hunting won't wash - it's time to outlaw barbaric bloodsport
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/old-excuses-for-fox-hunting-wont-wash-its-time-to-outlaw-barbaric-bloodsport/
Disgust at Sinn Fein’s attempt to block “Ban Fox Hunting” bill
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/disgust-at-sinn-feins-attempt-to-block-ban-fox-hunting-bill/
Ruth Coppinger's "Ban Fox Hunting" bill progresses despite shameful attempt to block it
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/ruth-coppingers-ban-fox-hunting-bill-progresses-despite-shameful-attempt-to-block-it/
Máiría Cahill: Rural stance no big surprise, but Sinn Fein vote on fox-hunt ban a sly move
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/06/01/mairia-cahill-rural-stance-no-big-surprise-but-sinn-fein-vote-on-fox-hunt-ban-a-sly-move/
Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports
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