Anti-blood sport organisations have targeted this year's Dublin Horse Show in an effort to dissuade groups from the UK moving their operations to Ireland when live fox-hunting is banned there.
Animal welfare groups are expected to travel here to join Irish supporters for the opening of the show tomorrow. The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Royston Brady, will officially open the show.
He will travel from the Mansion House in the Lord Mayor's coach, arriving at the Merrion Road entrance at approximately 11.50 a.m. tomorrow.
The opening ceremony will take place in the RDS National Crafts Exhibition in the Industries Hall at noon.
The show has been criticised for featuring hunting dogs and the Hunt Chase, which anti-bloodsports campaigners believe promotes fox-hunting here.
A new organisation called Farmers Against Foxhunting (FAF) has also expressed concern about an influx of fox-hunters from Britain where a ban seems inevitable.
The organisation said it was particularly concerned that a ban in England and Wales would lead to a massive influx of British hunters into Ireland, increasing pressure on farmers who have problems with trespass.
"As an alternative to hunting as a form of pest control, FAF points to the simple expedient of shooting a fox that appears to threaten lambs or poultry.
"But it favours drag hunting, in which a piece of meat is dragged across a predetermined route for the hounds to follow, as a viable and common sense alternative to hunting as a sport in the country.
"It can satisfy the concerns of farmers by laying these false 'drag' scents in a way that avoid 'non-hunting' lands," said a statement issued during the week.
The organisation, which has a small membership based in the south-east of the country, distanced itself from militant animal welfare groups
"Though the aim of banning hunting coincides with that of animal welfare groups, FAF has no connection with these groups and is driven by a different set of priorities, namely the protection of farm livelihoods," said the statement. Saturday willl see a display by the Island Foxhounds, the ebookers.ie Puissance and Swatch Watches Hunt Chase first round, and the final will be held on Sunday, the final day of the show.