A row about a "no-shooting" policy on State lands has led to a call by the director of the National Association of Regional Game Councils to its 24,000 members not to vote for Government party candidates in the upcoming local and European elections.
Mr Des Crofton made the call at a meeting in Tullamore, Co Offaly, aimed at highlighting the refusal of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to implement the findings of a 2002 scientific review into current policy. Some 120 people attended.
The NARGC had been led to believe that the policy would be reversed but it was not, a move welcomed by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports.
Since 1999 the Government's policy prohibiting shooting on lands purchased by the State has been examined on two occasions. The most recent report, conducted in 2002 by an independent scientific group comprising three appointees of the Minister for the Environment and three scientific appointees of the NARGC, found that there was no scientific basis for maintaining the ban.
Mr Crofton said the Minister had then indicated that he was prepared to allow shooting on State lands on a trial basis, but this has never happened.
Mr Crofton said NARGC members contributed €22 million per annum to the Exchequer. This amount includes €6 million each year in shooting licence fees. "The NARGC believes that it has a right to pursue its sport on State lands, as applies to other interest groups such as bird-watchers and hill-walkers who make no payment to the State," he said.