The latest setback in the campaign to get cruel coursing banned is the failure of the Green Party to have a pledge to outlaw the blood sport included in the draft Programme for Government - Read John Fitzgerald’s Letter to the Editor in today’s Irish Examiner...
Hare coursing: A long campaign
Letter to the Editor, Irish Examiner, June 23rd 2020
The campaign to ban live hare coursing in Ireland commenced in the mid 1960s and has seen many heartbreaking setbacks, the latest being the failure of the Green Party to have a pledge to outlaw the blood sport included in the draft Programme for Government.
Some political commentators have alluded to the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael rejection of such a pledge in sniggering and dismissive tones, as if hare coursing didn’t matter in the bigger scheme of things.
True, whether it’s legal or not has no implications for public health or the economy: Either way, the sky won’t fall and life will continue for us as before.But it does have implications for the unfortunate animals that are at the butt-end of this joke that calls itself a “sport.”
Each hare is the centre of its own universe. Imagine the terror and stress it undergoes when it is violently snatched from its natural habitat, confined for weeks in unnatural captivity, and then forced to run from dogs in a contrived chase.
Or what it must be like to be pinned down by the hyped-up dogs, have your bones crushed, or be tossed about like a rag doll on the coursing field.
John Fitzgerald
Campaign for the Abolition Of Cruel Sports,
Callan, Co Kilkenny
ACTION ALERT
Now is the time for a ban on bloodsports and an end to greyhound racing. RED C opinion polls show that 77 per cent of Irish citizens want hare coursing banned (just 9 per cent disagree with a ban), 77 per cent want foxhunting banned (just 12 per cent disagree with a ban), while a two thirds majority want the government to stop funding greyhound racing.
Please contact political party leaders and urge them to permanently end hare coursing, fox hunting and greyhound racing.
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Leave a comment on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088 OR 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
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
Please sign and share the petitions
Ban Blood Sports in Ireland Now
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkXOvbUPNNjMc6LShwiiXBfnDAPbykf
Witness the cruelty of fox hunting in Ireland
http://www.banbloodsports.com/camp-fh.htm
SEE ALSO
The Green Party’s Finance Spokesperson, Neasa Hourigan TD, has announced that she will be voting against the proposed Programme for Government.
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3020851558030382
Belfast Green Party councillor, Anthony Flynn, is among the latest party representatives to express opposition to a proposed Programme for Government which does not include a pledge to ban bloodsports and end funding for greyhound racing.
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3020873614694843
Younger members of the Green Party are expected to reject the proposed Programme for Government, with one Young Green representative pointing to the absence of a pledge to ban bloodsports as a major issue.
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3012651072183764
Cruelty to animals is not "Green"
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3009701525812052
GREENS CAPITULATE ON ANIMAL CRUELTY: 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 https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3002648016517403
The Green Party’s support for a Programme for Government that doesn’t include a pledge to ban cruel hare coursing and live exports was discussed on The Tonight Show on Virgin Media 1 (18 June 2020).
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3012608555521349
Find out more about John Fitzgerald
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1473520596
https://twitter.com/BadHareDays
http://banharecoursinginireland.over-blog.com/
Buy John Fitzgerald’s “Time to Stop Running” book
https://www.facebook.com/IrishHareBook/photos/a.2199689936935675/2199689870269015/