Gormley unlikely to grant stag hunt licence
Tuesday, 4 September 2007 16:18
The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is expected to decide today not to grant a licence to the Ward Union Hunt, Ireland's only stag hunt, based in Co Meath.
A Department official said that legal opinion has yet to be secured, but he believed the Minister could make some announcement on the matter this afternoon.
The hunt is highly controversial given that the last Ward Union Hunt resulted in a stag being chased into a primary school yard at Kildalkey, Co Meath, by a pack of chasing dogs, distressing many parents and children.
The school bus was unable to park close to the school due to the hunt and many children ended up running past the dogs to get to the vehicle.
It is expected that if Minister Gormley does refuse a licence, which would amount to a de facto ban, the Ward Union Hunt would take the matter to the High Court.
The Ward Union Hunt described the Kildalkey incident as 'very unfortunate', but said that, despite claims from many parents, the stag was not hurt.
The Green Party leader is also due to decide today about whether he should issue coursing licences to allow the netting of hares.
This is expected to go ahead, in some form, which will annoy many anti-blood sports activists.
