Sir, – John Fitzgerald (May 6th) starts off innocuously enough in the guise of a defence of country rambling, but soon focuses on the hunting fraternity. He is at pains to point out that huntspeople include "prominent legal eagles, bankers, property developers and super-wealthy socialites". These same undesirables can also be seen playing tennis, rugby, golf, bridge, football and most every other recreational activity. Does this condemn all the aforementioned pursuits or is it only when they are hunting that these types are seen at their worst ?
It is true that the people Mr Fitzgerald lists have been known to hunt but, in my own experience, so too have teachers, nurses, civil servants, gardaí, shopkeepers, students and schoolchildren.
Mr Fitzgerald refers to “the foxhunts that operate in the countryside in the winter months”. He later tell us that huntspeople can be seen “ripping up whole fields of crops”. One of the reasons that hunting takes place in the winter months is precisely because there are so few crops at that time and damage is kept to a minimum. Hunts depend on the support of the farming community and they therefore know, or should know, not to leave gates open or damage crops. If they were to do so, they would be barred from that land and that would be the end of it.
Mr Fitzgerald must not be familiar with the concept of “headlands”, which is the loud cry that hunters make as they enter a field. This reminds them and those following, if it were necessary, to ride close to the hedges around the field and not to cut across it. Mr Fitzgerald omits the one group that probably comprises the largest cohort of hunt members in the country – the farmers themselves. As for the “mayhem” he says hunts cause, or the “scattering of livestock in all directions”, in many years I have not once seen an instance of either.
Ultimately the key to these rural issues is courtesy, respect and good manners. – Yours, etc,
LIAM MURRAY
Sefton Hall,
Kelston,
Foxrock, Dublin 18.