The Minister for the Environment will raise hackles whether or not he reissues the Ward Union Hunt licence, writes Kate Holmquist
The image of the Ward Union Hunt couldn't be worse: an arrogant nouveau-riche elite clad in leather and jodhpurs like studs in a Jilly Cooper novel as they ride their horses, hounds and 4x4s roughshod over other people's land in pursuit of a startled red deer bred for the purpose. The incident in Kildalkey, Co Meath, last January when schoolchildren pressed their faces to classroom windows to see a stag run on to their playground by hounds as the hunt cavalcade took over the village did nothing to dispel this perception.
You could hardly think of anything less "green", yet the Green Party Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is considering whether to reissue a licence to the Ward Union Hunt to continue hunting deer when the season starts in November. The hunt must apply for a licence annually because red deer are an endangered species - while fox and mink hunting require no licence and go on throughout the winter.
The Minister stated on Thursday night that he had "a number of serious concerns" and is inviting the Ward Union Hunt to address them before he makes a final decision.
The Ward Union Hunt is the first to admit that there's some truth in the perception of arrogance, says solicitor Declan Brooks, honorary secretary and a first generation Ward Union member. "There's some truth in it and some lack of truth in it. There are people who think they are the bees' knees and can do whatever they like, just as you have in any organisation, and we try to challenge their attitude. Most of our members are very down to earth . . . plumbers, electricians, farmers, gardaí, schoolteachers and housewives. There's great community involvement."
The hunt's defence that a field-and-country way of life is under threat if the licence is revoked was highlighted yesterday by Gavin Duffy, representing the Hunting Association of Ireland, who claimed that a groundswell of support for the hunt among Fianna Fáil TDs indicated a "wailing wall" of concern that the Ward Union Hunt had earlier this week faced having its licence refused without consultation with the Minister. Reacting to the claim, Liam Reid, spokesman for the Minister, told The Irish Times: "There have been representations from a small number of TDs, but any suggestion of a Fianna Fáil backlash is laughable."
The Ward Union Hunt is the last in the world to practice cart hunting, a sport in which "wild" deer are brought from the 55-acre park in which they live (a park maintained by the hunt) and are then set free in the countryside, to be chased by hounds and riders on horseback. The deer are not shot but are wrestled to the ground by men at the conclusion of the hunt, then returned alive to their demesne.
The anti-bloodsports lobby has been vociferous in its campaign to highlight the plight of the deer which, it argues, is defined as a domestic animal and thus protected under 1911 legislation. If you want to judge for yourself, log in to YouTube and type in ICABS (Irish Campaign Against Blood Sports) to see a video of a cart hunt. Many will find it disturbing, but Brooks believes that city folk reared on Bambi have no concept of what hunting involves.
Hunting, says Brooks, involves 30,000 people a week during the season and 300,000 annually, participating in a variety of types of hunting. Asked if cart hunting, in particular, is cruel, he says: "I've asked myself that question many times. I don't think so. Cruelty would be where we tie their legs together and let a pack of hounds savage them to death slowly." He adds that it's in the stag's nature to be startled and to flee and that the 45 deer (out of a herd of 150) that are cart-hunted annually are wild stags in their prime who are well able to cope with the chase because it is in their nature to be alert and to flee. However, Aideen Yourell of ICABS couldn't disagree more, insisting that the deer do suffer because they are effectively domestic animals who live in captivity in paddocks, like zoo animals, making them unprepared for being attacked "in the wild".
As Brooks readily admits, in the past five years one deer has died from an aneurysm, one broke its neck running into a wall and one died from dry-drowning (complications in the lungs caused by inhaling water from a quarry into which it was chased). All three fatalities caused him and the hunt concern, though the deaths were fewer than would be considered normal among livestock, he argues.
Farmers who object to having as many as 70 horses churning up their land and winter crops without their permission while harriers on foot cut through fences are also among those who'd like to see Gormley refuse to renew the hunt's licence.
In Co Kilkenny, Philip P Lynch of Farmers Against Foxhunting and Trespass, says dozens of farmers in Leinster feel powerless to stop deer and fox hunters who trespass on other people's land. Twice he has become so incensed at hunts ploughing through his fields, despite his refusal of permission, that he has shot the hunters' dogs (which are classed as vermin if they are worrying livestock). Lynch likens hunting to a rider on horseback being allowed to knock down your suburban fence, trample your flowerbeds and set his dogs on your cat.
Frances Lawless, a landowner in Co Meath, says she has twice received compensation from the Ward Hunt for harming her land. She sees cart-hunting as a barbaric sport.
Yet Brooks insists that the hunt has good relationships with farmers and that many farmers participate in the sport, or at least the drinks afterwards. He also says that the day after a hunt, teams of fence-menders follow the course of the hunt to put right any damage.
And then there are people such as Ciaran Ryan, a respected horse-breeder and trainer, as well as a member of the Ward Union Hunt, who says that if the Minister fails to renew the licence, Ryan will have to let go two full-time employees who help maintain hunters, not to mention negative impacts on the farriers who shoe horses and the farmers who sell their hay and straw to his stables.
Gormley certainly has his work cut out as he considers a decision that will be controversial, no matter how diplomatically he handles it.