hunt meeting

endasmail

Ward Union HAI Monster Rally
For Trim Monday 14th of December
Christy Reynolds, The Ward Union Hunt Chairman, has called a Monster HAI Rally to be held in the Trim Castle Hotel, Trim on Monday week the 14th December at 8pm. “The battle begins here. We have been planning our campaign quietly behind the scenes but it goes public from here” said Reynolds. He continued, “If John Gormley thinks he is going to end the Ward Union without this Government facing a massive backlash he is kidding himself.”
It is reported that the Ward Union were advised not do any public campaigning until the budget was over. The purpose of the Monster Rally is to gather all those who support hunting, fishing and shooting in the Northeast and inform them of the campaign strategy for the first six months of 2010.
Giving the campaign its full backing, HAI Chairman, David Lalor said “I am of the view the Ward Union Hunt will be around longer than the Green Party but we must all take a stand now. This battle is everyone’s battle and December 14th in Trim is the battle cry for all who love country pursuits.”
Ronan Griffin, Secretary of the Ward Union says “This is as much a media event as a political rally and we expect the TV news cameras will be at the rally.” He went on, “It is not about speaking to hunting people it is about starting the campaign to win support from the wider public.”
All local TDs from both Meath Constituencies and North County Dublin are invited. It will be interesting to see if Minister Noel Dempsey attends as it is reported that, contrary to what he says publicly, it is the view of some in the WUH that he has not been supportive of hunting at the cabinet table. “Politicians of all parties in the constituencies are being invited and my colleague Oliver Russell is looking after those arrangements”, says Chairman Reynolds. “I know people are very annoyed and vexed but we will still ask all attendees to respectfully listen to the TDs. We have to find out, particularly from the Government Party TDs, what is their position on the Ward Union?”
The Ward Union nor HAI would not confirm the speaker line up for the rally but says it will be very different from other previous HAI rallies. But the Irish Field has learned that Francis Lally, who has organised and lead the Anti Pylon campaign so successfully in the Royal County, will be one of the speakers and there is speculation that Gavin Duffy, fresh from his Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice duties will be one of the other main speakers

whitser

i'll be there as all should hunting men who can make it. personally i think its time anti country sport politicians in all parties got a wake up call.

CJhaughey

Joe Duffy has a piece on Liveline now.

homerhop

CJhaughey wrote: »

Joe Duffy has a piece on Liveline now.

Listening to it now...tree huggers are out in force

bunny shooter

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2009/pc/pod-v-141209-25m23s-liveline.mp3

doctor evil

Whats the jist? (sound of JD voice makes me want to scratch my eyes out)

whitser

just in the door from the rally. it was a great turn out,in fact the hall was packed with loads of people having to watch the meeting on screens out side. some good speaches.
basiclly gormley has a massive fight on his hands. there was messages of support from all the other hunting org's and people from the ifa, nargc etc....
some politicians were there also pledging support.
anger was the general mood and an acceptance that this attack on the ward was an attack on all field sports and that the times come for action. no more mr nice guy.
there was 4 antis outside protesting to the hundreds who came from all over the country to show solidarity.

pullandbang

I couldn't make it myself but I sent 84 texts to our club members to go. I passed by the hotel just before 8.00pm and the place was packed. The car parks were full and it took me ages to get past the hotel on my way to a different meeting. Just home now and still lots of cars around. Hope it went well.

endasmail

"Stand up and be counted
Or lie down and be mounted"

has to be the quote for the night

Sparks

From the Irish Times:

Hunt ban Bill is 'Green tail wagging FF dog', meeting told
RONAN McGREEVY in Trim

THE ONLY licensed hunt in the country has been “thrown to the wolves” by the Government to keep the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Coalition together, a public meeting was told last night.

There was standing-room only in the Trim Castle Hotel for the meeting, called to protest against a proposed Bill that would outlaw stag hunting and therefore outlaw the Ward Union Hunt based in Co Meath.

Ward Union Hunt chairman Christy Reynolds said the decision to include a ban on stag hunting in the renegotiated Programme for the Government was a sop by Fianna Fáil to the Green Party and its leader, John Gormley.

“With a stroke of a pen they can take away 155 years of enjoyment and hunting,” he said.

The organisers delayed the start of the meeting by 20 minutes because of traffic jams due to protesters trying to access the venue. About 800 people from hunting associations across the country attended.

Hunting Association of Ireland chairman David Lalor said the number was “just a fraction” of those in the hunting community who supported the Ward Union.

Farmers’ Journal editor and former chairman of the Kildare Hunt, Matt Dempsey, said there were more people at last night’s meeting than would be at a Green Party convention.

Former chairman of Meath County Council and Fianna Fáil councillor Nick Killian said the proposed ban was “the Green tail wagging the Fianna Fáil dog” and he was “disgusted” with his party for supporting the ban.

Television personality and businessman Gavin Duffy said the most that hunting protesters could muster for a demonstration would be 12. “We could bring 120,000 to the gates of Leinster House if we wanted. We need Fianna Fáil to know that they are messing with the wrong people,” he said.

He said it was “shockingly disappointing” that Trim TD and Government Minister Noel Dempsey, who negotiated the Programme for Government, had not turned up.

He had “insulted” his constituents and showed where he stood on the issue of the ban. “He needs to know he has made a serious political error,” Mr Duffy added.

Other TDs from Meath and North Dublin attended, with the exception of North Dublin Green TD Trevor Sargent.

Meath East Fianna Fáil TD Thomas Byrne said he was not comfortable with the proposed ban, but would be supporting the Government. “I’m not a rebel,” he said, but he added that Fianna Fáil would not stand for any other prohibitions on hunting.

Dublin North TD Darragh O’Brien said he would bring the message of the meeting back to Government.

lightening

doctor evil wrote: »

Whats the jist? (sound of JD voice makes me want to scratch my eyes out)

Car crash stuff. Literally. Listen to it, it's disaster radio, the stag ended up hitting a car on the public road and had to be destroyed, it gets worse from there.

pullandbang

According to Morning Ireland there were 2,000 people at the meeting and not 800 as per Irish Times. Judging by the traffic last night I'd say 2000 is nearer the truth.

CJhaughey

Pat kenny has Dan Boyle, John Tierney and a chap from the Ward union on now.

bunny shooter

Seems there is support for hunting in Ireland then :cool:

If this ban goes through what will be next ? We need to stop this NOW !!!!

CJhaughey

bunny shooter wrote: »

Seems there is support for hunting in Ireland then :cool:

If this ban goes through what will be next ? We need to stop this NOW !!!!

John Tierney stated that his group has issues with hunting, shooting and fishing.
The Greens are in bed with them so any person that hunts shoots or fishes has to stand together or face the possibility of having their chosen sport legislated out of existence.
Regardless of whether or not you are a mounted hunter or not, this will affect you.
I know there are people that think that they just shoot or just fish and think that if Mounted hunting goes so be it.
Think back to the last round of Firearms legislation and what has happened to law abiding CF pistol shooters and reflect.
The same tactics were used, Divide and bludgeon.

greenpeter

Was there aswel and it was great to see so many people from all over the country stand up and be counted for. Gavin Duffy wants to ride into leinster house from the Phoenix park, Gormley would love that. I think if they ban the ward union were all finished its only a matter of time.

CJhaughey

Joe Duffy has it on again.

endasmail

after been listening to it
both sides have a fight on their hands

Rovi

George Hook just did a bit on it, and had a 'John Tierney' (?) of some hunt saboteur crowd on.
Mr. Tierney stated that a ban on stag hunting is only the start as far as he's concerned, and that it will open the floodgates to banning all forms of hunting.

I'll post a link to the audio when it's posted on the Newstalk website.

whitser

thats why this shouldnt be seen as a ward union fight but a fight for all fieldsports.

rowa

98 FM RIGHT NOW

Octopus

CJhaughey wrote: »

John Tierney stated that his group has issues with hunting, shooting and fishing.
The Greens are in bed with them so any person that hunts shoots or fishes has to stand together or face the possibility of having their chosen sport legislated out of existence.

I hope the Greens have done their research on John Tierney (obviously not). He's not a nice man. There were discussions on this board about him and his record some time ago. I'll see what I can dig up in google.

johngalway

Rovi wrote: »

George Hook just did a bit on it, and had a 'John Tierney' (?) of some hunt saboteur crowd on.
Mr. Tierney stated that a ban on stag hunting is only the start as far as he's concerned, and that it will open the floodgates to banning all forms of hunting.

I'll post a link to the audio when it's posted on the Newstalk website.

I heard some of that on my way to Westport, mountains didn't help.

Wasn't sure what Georges final comment on the subject was supposed to mean, was he referring to one or the other or both.

I did have a moment when the hunt guy fed George his own tripe about it being an Anglo Norman (or whatever phrase he used) activity.

lightening

Someone was on the last word on Today FM, came across pretty well, much better than the guy on Joe Duffy yesterday. There was a hunt saboteur on too. He came across really badly, wouldn't answer a particular question put to him (how many of you are there?), eventually Mat Cooper couldn't help but start to laugh at him.

homerhop

what time was that at on the last word?

lightening

I think around 17.35 or after.

CJhaughey

johngalway wrote: »

I did have a moment when the hunt guy fed George his own tripe

By the looks of Senor Hook someone has been feeding him rather a lot of tripe for quite a while.

whitser

98 fm are doing a poll should ward be banned?? no75%:D at last count
text no to 53981

Rovi

whitser wrote: »

98 fm are doing a poll should ward be banned?? no75%:D at last count
text no to 53981

www.98fm.ie takes me to www.dublins98.ie, and the poll there isn't about the Ward Union.

Have I gotten something wrong somewhere?

whitser

it was a text in poll duing the show. funny she only called out the result once, and mentioned how suprised she was. i was listening at the end of the show and she didnt mention it. i get the feeling if it was the other way round she would have let us know.

Rovi

Fair enough; I just thought I'd point out that the current poll was different.
Wouldn't want people to vote NO to a different poll.

lightening

98fm listeners say 75% no to banning!

These are the people that thought this ad was a good idea, a good representation of their listeners!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbpMbwdANTs&feature=PlayList&p=AB6626710C922BC9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

Lads. You may as well throw your hat at it!! Those people would make Gormley go out and rip a stags larynx out with his teeth.

johngalway

Well, I voted "no" to something or other, feck it, can't go wrong really, if in doubt kick it out!

Rovi

Here's the segment from Matt Cooper's The Last Word show on TodayFM today (scroll to 31:30):
The Last Word 5pm hour Tuesday: 15/12/2009

Rovi

Rovi wrote: »

George Hook just did a bit on it, and had a 'John Tierney' (?) of some hunt saboteur crowd on.
Mr. Tierney stated that a ban on stag hunting is only the start as far as he's concerned, and that it will open the floodgates to banning all forms of hunting.

I'll post a link to the audio when it's posted on the Newstalk website.

It's up.

Newstalk have implemented some sort of new Flash player stuff, so I don't see any way to link directly to the item; any tech bods out there able to do it?

Anyway, for the moment, go to their main site and navigate from there:
http://www.newstalk.ie/

Click the 'podcasts' link at the top right, and select 'LISTEN BACK' in the popup.
Scroll down to 'The Right Hook', and click 'Part: 1' in the Tuesday 15th December 2009 line.

The item starts at 7:40.


The quote from Mr. Tierney is: "Once stag hunting is banned, that opens the floodgates, because there can be no justification for any other activity."

That looks like as good a rallying call for hunting and shooting people to oppose this ban as any I've ever seen.

CokaColumbo

CJhaughey wrote: »

John Tierney stated that his group has issues with hunting, shooting and fishing.
The Greens are in bed with them so any person that hunts shoots or fishes has to stand together or face the possibility of having their chosen sport legislated out of existence.
Regardless of whether or not you are a mounted hunter or not, this will affect you.
I know there are people that think that they just shoot or just fish and think that if Mounted hunting goes so be it.
Think back to the last round of Firearms legislation and what has happened to law abiding CF pistol shooters and reflect.
The same tactics were used, Divide and bludgeon.

Dan Boyle of the Green Party made an explicit distinction between stag hunting and fishing, and stated that he did not have a problem with the latter. Just because John Tierney has an opinion on the matter, it doesn't mean that the Greens reflect that opinion.

Personally I think fishing is more brutal than stag hunting and that Boyle is wrong in making the distinction.

CJhaughey

CokaColumbo wrote: »

Dan Boyle of the Green Party made an explicit distinction between stag hunting and fishing, and stated that he did not have a problem with the latter. Just because John Tierney has an opinion on the matter, it doesn't mean that the Greens reflect that opinion.

Personally I think fishing is more brutal than stag hunting and that Boyle is wrong in making the distinction.

Yes but the Green party has a large number of paid up members that promised support for the Lisbon II treaty in exchange for banning bloodsports.
Boyle,Gormley, and Ryan might be the acceptable face of the Greens but there are lot of fringe dwellers that are more extremist in the same party.
I don't think any field sport should be weighed against another in terms of more or less brutal.
They are our sports and that is all there is to say on the matter, once you start splitting then the problems start, fishing is better than hunting is better than stag hunting is better than.....
Anthropomorphism is what is used to justify the actions of the lunatic fringes in regard to animals and it has no place IMO.

whitser

poll running at the moment on the irishtimes web site. get on and vote

sfakiaman

whitser wrote: »

poll running at the moment on the irishtimes web site. get on and vote

Poll can be found under the comments section. Ye all probably knew that but it took me a while.

Gortglas

Matt Cooper had a right laugh at the fact that Tierney could only muster 4, (half the entire membership) to go to Trim the other night.

kakashka

Ward union have come across badly over the last couple of years,(i would not underestimate the amount of ppl against this hunt)i cant say that i support them fully but this is not about the Ward IMHO,
I agree with the opinions that this would just be the start,and with over 2years of term left and a lot of sticky situations ahead for FF who knows what will happen so it must be opposed 100%,no matter what happens lets not ever forget who gave the Greens the power to do this

Sparks

kakashka wrote: »

lets not ever forget who gave the Greens the power to do this

Yes - our parents, siblings, cousins and friends who voted for them and for Fianna Fail. And those of us who voted that way as well.

kakashka

Sparks wrote: »

Yes - our parents, siblings, cousins and friends who voted for them and for Fianna Fail. And those of us who voted that way as well.

Yes ultimately but i'm presuming this could not happen without FF support(was this particular bill not part of some kind of deal?)
(never voted FForG in my life,not that it would not happen with another party mind you)

deeksofdoom

kakashka wrote: »

Ward union have come across badly over the last couple of years,(i would not underestimate the amount of ppl against this hunt)i cant say that i support them fully but this is not about the Ward IMHO,

I think it was last year that the president of the Ward Union was on with Matt Cooper, he made some twat of himself. Hopefully they won't be wheeling him out for this campaign. Some of the things he tried to justify the existence of the Ward Union with were rediculous. Needless to say Matt Cooper had a field day with him.

Sparks

kakashka wrote: »

Yes ultimately but i'm presuming this could not happen without FF support

Indeed -- though you'd be saddened by how many people think this is purely down to the Greens and wouldn't see how their voting for FF is a bad thing

lightening

CJhaughey wrote: »

Yes but the Green party has a large number of paid up members that promised support for the Lisbon II treaty in exchange for banning bloodsports

Good point, you can only hope that FF live up to their reputation and go back on their word. Wouldn't at all surprise me if they do. And, yeah, Gortglas, bad representation from the hunt saboteur and good representation from the hunt for a change. I have said before, it's imperative you have good representation in the media and even on this forum. You really have to be careful who you let loose, particularly on the radio and TV.

CokaColumbo

CJhaughey wrote: »

Yes but the Green party has a large number of paid up members that promised support for the Lisbon II treaty in exchange for banning bloodsports.
Boyle,Gormley, and Ryan might be the acceptable face of the Greens but there are lot of fringe dwellers that are more extremist in the same party.
I don't think any field sport should be weighed against another in terms of more or less brutal.
They are our sports and that is all there is to say on the matter, once you start splitting then the problems start, fishing is better than hunting is better than stag hunting is better than.....
Anthropomorphism is what is used to justify the actions of the lunatic fringes in regard to animals and it has no place IMO.

The party has always been against blood-sports, I am not disagreeing with you there. What I am saying though is that the party is not opposed to fishing in any way whatsoever; they have never stated that they are. Its wrong of you then to say that they are opposed to it.
Also, I don't think that talking about some extremist fringe of a party gives your claims any substance. Its usually the case that a fringe has little to no influence in how a party is run- that's why they're at the fringe to begin with.

Why should we not dwell on whether or not a bloodsport is brutal or cruel?
Do you agree with the following statement: it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain, suffering and death upon animals.

CJhaughey

CokaColumbo wrote: »

The party has always been against blood-sports, I am not disagreeing with you there. What I am saying though is that the party is not opposed to fishing in any way whatsoever; they have never stated that they are. Its wrong of you then to say that they are opposed to it.
Also, I don't think that talking about some extremist fringe of a party gives your claims any substance. Its usually the case that a fringe has little to no influence in how a party is run- that's why they're at the fringe to begin with.

Why should we not dwell on whether or not a bloodsport is brutal or cruel?
Do you agree with the following statement: it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain, suffering and death upon animals.

'Tis but a short hop from hunting to fishing.
As for the statement it depends on who is asking the question.
What some might call brutal others could call sport.

Unnecessary pain and suffering could concievably be used to describe the actions of a Salmon on the end of a hook.

Death is inevitable, so no point discussing its necessity.

I believe that there are a large number of animal rights people at work within the Green party. That is cause enough to give rise to concern that the current minister for the environment could be unduly influenced by this section of the party.
I still think they are a lunatic fringe on society, but as paid up GP members they have influence on my/our chosen sports and as such have a much greater proportional influence than they would have out of Gov't
Anyway, hopefully it is only a short time before the whole sorry mess is swept out of office.:)

dicky82

i dont know if anyone else has suggested this but maybe we should put up petitions in our local rod and guns, fishing shops etc or a news letter or somethig. i think that there is alot of people out there who enjoy these sports but who will be finding out about all this when its far too late . . . .

CokaColumbo

CJhaughey wrote: »

What some might call brutal others could call sport.

Unnecessary pain and suffering could concievably be used to describe the actions of a Salmon on the end of a hook.

Death is inevitable, so no point discussing its necessity.

I believe that there are a large number of animal rights people at work within the Green party. That is cause enough to give rise to concern that the current minister for the environment could be unduly influenced by this section of the party.
I still think they are a lunatic fringe on society, but as paid up GP members they have influence on my/our chosen sports and as such have a much greater proportional influence than they would have out of Gov't
Anyway, hopefully it is only a short time before the whole sorry mess is swept out of office.:)

Is it possible that something might be both cruel and a sport at the same time?
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that blood-sports are any more unnecessary/unjustified than any of our other uses of animals in society. Also I don't think that Dan Boyle has a right to condemn your past-time when he himself goes home every night and eats a chicken to satisfy his taste buds; it doesn't really make any sense.

Just to clarify, although I'm not in the Green Party, I am one of those lunatic humans who believes that it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain, suffering and death upon all animals, human and non-human. I am a vegan, and I believe that animals are not ours to exploit and kill.

Although I disagree strongly with what you do in the name of sport, I don't doubt your sincerity as a person. And as I indicated above, I don't think that anybody really has a right to condemn what you do to animals when 99.99% of people have 'food' animals killed for no reasons other than taste and convenience.

I used to be an avid fisher myself and a die-hard meat eater but not anymore. I do still sympathise with how you and other hunters feel: that a tiny political party with zero local councillors, and which is hanging on in government by a thread, is dictating what you can and cannot do as a recreational past time. It doesn't seem fair at all.
That said, I don't think what you do is fair and will greet the day when/if all blood-sports are outlawed in this country.

Sparks

CokaColumbo wrote: »

I am one of those lunatic humans who believes that it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain, suffering and death upon all animals

Not to trivialise it, but that also describes every real hunter in Ireland. Look about the forum - there's lots of discussion on what kind of firearm to use, how best to use it, and so on; and anytime someone suggests a calibre that's smaller than normal, there's almost always a number of comments to the tune of "use enough gun", because no hunter wants to wound an animal - their objective is always to drop the animal on the first shot, as humanely as possible. And since most hunters in Ireland are hunting for the pot, or hunting as vermin control (which is hunting for the pot, just one step removed), it's not unnecessary death they're inflicting.

In fact, the only contraversy that really divides hunters from the Green Party is the word 'unnecessary'. I mean, I regard it as necessary to inflict death on cattle fairly regularly because I eat steak. A vegan wouldn't agree, but our difference wouldn't be down to the killing of the animal at that point, but to dietary choices. It's just that people get emotional and throw logic out the window at this point normally.

There are other such conflicts with the same logic to them - between park rangers and conservationists who want to manage deer herds for long-term survivability and those who think you should maximise short-term survivability instead; and so on. But in the end, the disagreement is very rarely over the methods used by hunters - the majority of the time, it's over whether or not the whole process of hunting should be used at all.