Republican prisoners in Portlaoise prison are opposed to the practice of digging out foxes and cubs by foxhunters, said Aideen Yourell, public relations officer for the Irish Council Against Blood Sports.
The soft-spoken midlander has been the official voice of the organisation since 1991. Her job has taken her to schools, public meetings and even to the prisons where she has spoken out against cruel sports involving animals.
Armed with her video showing some of the practices in hunting, she met IRA and other prisoners in Portlaoise to deliver her anti-blood sports message.
"The prisoners were very respectful and listened to what I was telling them. I met the different groups of republicans and none of them approved of digging out foxes or cubs," she said.
Recently, she made history in the Oireachtas by showing the video to members of the Dail and Seanad committee which was examining the new Wildlife Bill.
"I understand this was the first time any group showed a video in there. All I wanted to do was to get the message across that fox-hunting is cruel," she said.
"I also wanted the politicians to see that they would have to ban mink hunting with hounds in order to have a complete ban on otter hunting." Aideen was born in Sonna, near Mullingar, of farming stock. Her father was a schoolteacher.
"I have to say my grandfather was a fox-hunter, but I have always had a deep love for animals, especially cats, and that brought me into the animal welfare area." She rejects the charge that she and others like her care more about animals than people. This is not true, she said, arguing that if one is compassionate about animals, it is only logical one has to be compassionate towards humans.
Aideen became actively involved in the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) in 1986 when she saw a television documentary by Caroline Erskine on RTE television.
"I joined the ICABS which had originally been set up in the mid-1960s to oppose bullfighting. After a few years the organisation began looking at practices closer to home." She became national public relations officer of the organisation in 1991, a job which brings her to all parts of the country and abroad, where the fight against bullfighting continues.
"I was recently in Barcelona and took part in a major protest there against bullfighting, which is a terrible practice. That work will continue," she said.
Aideen is a firm believer in what she calls "gentle persuasion". She dislikes confrontation and believes that well thought-out dialogue and positive suggestions make more progress.
For instance, she said, the council had recently suggested to the Department of Agriculture that the Irish Coursing Club should use a mechanical lure in coursing instead of live hares. This, she said, had worked well in England and if the coursing club approved it, there could be year-round coursing with more sponsorship.
She would like to see the fox-hunting fraternity look at drag hunts as well but the council is persisting in its demand that a public inquiry be held into the sport.
"There are so many alternative equestrian events which fox-hunters should look to without having to kill the fox. There is no doubt at all that the foxes suffer and that is why there should be an inquiry." Such an inquiry would be easy to hold because most of the research work has already been completed by the Burns Inquiry in Britain, which she believes will eventually bring an end to fox-hunting there.
Aideen is also involved in the campaign to protect badgers, especially from wire snares where they are trapped to remove them from farming areas where farmers claim they spread bovine TB.
"They are horrible things and cause great pain. I brought one of them to a meeting with Department of Agriculture officials and they were horrified," she said.
"I believe that the badger is being scapegoated in the argument about bovine TB and how they spread it and we are working with Badgerwatch and other groups to have this practice ended." Her work as PRO brings her into almost daily contact with the farming community. Farming people, she said, are very fond of their animals and do not like them to be treated cruelly.
"I have a lot of farming people on complaining about people coming on to their lands and this weekend, for instance, I had a man complaining about badger baiting on his land."
In recent times, Aideen has become more involved in local environmental issues. The most pressing one at the moment, she said, was to prevent the building of an incinerator in the midlands. Another local issue is the possible destruction of a ring fort near Mullingar by road building.
However, her work of "gentle persuasion" in the protection of Irish animals will continue, inspired by the words of Cardinal Newman. She quotes: "What is it that moves our very hearts and sickens us so much as cruelty to animals? First, they have done no harm. Next, they have no power of resistance.
"It is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims that makes their suffering so especially touching. There is something so dreadful, so satanic in tormenting those who have never harmed us and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power, who have weapons neither of offence or defence."
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