Sir, – Greyhound Racing Ireland has protested to Folens publishers and to the Department of Education regarding the article entitled “Going to the Dogs” published in a school textbook. For either the department or the publisher to be engaged in encouraging young adults to write to a Minister to have greyhound racing banned is inappropriate and a usurpation of the educational system.
The insidious and gradual creep of animal rights activism in Ireland should concern not only our politicians and civil servants but also the silent millions who farm or engage in a wide variety of field sports and country activities.
In truth there is no end to their radical agenda and we need to wake up to the threat of such radicalism before we get like the UK where we recently saw the rescue of animals getting precedence over the evacuation of British citizens from Afghanistan.
Extremism of any kind is dangerous but the radical animal rights agenda is quite insidious and has no place in Irish society. Putting animals’ rights before those of humans is clearly wrong; trying to infiltrate the minds of young people through the State national secondary school curriculum is equally wrong and denigrating the minority of those who support greyhound racing is also wrong.
We need to remind our politicians that it is us, the landowners, farmers and country people engaged in greyhound racing and a myriad of equestrian activities, and also activities that require a gun, a rod, a hound or a terrier, that are the rightful custodians of rural Ireland and its environment and not some civil servant with an agenda seated in Marlborough Street. – Yours, etc,
JAMES E NORTON,
Trim,
Co Meath.