Hunting is horse of a different colour in Ireland
She does not expect an influx of English riders. "The Irish countryside cannot allow any more hunters than at present. Farmers would not like it. Our policy is to continue as heretofore, and discourage an influx. While we sympathise with the plight of hunters in Britain, we will not encourage them to come here. It's physically impossible," said the Cork woman.
She also rejected any notion that Ireland would be the next battleground in the English anti-hunt lobby campaign.
"In 1998, a number of English saboteurs were arrested. Some escaped bail and we have not seen sight of them since."
"I reckon that the ordinary hunting man in Ireland would not be as tolerant as the English. Do you think they would tolerate English yobbos"?
"Ultimately, it is a class issue in England. That is not the case in Ireland," said the chairperson of an organisation that was set up in 1859.
BERNIE WRIGHT, spokesperson for the Association of Hunt Saboteurs, said we are "40 years trying to get the ban, we just hope it sticks."
She felt there would be an increase in violence by the hunting fraternity.
"Hunts are every bit as violent here as they are in England. Hostility against us will increase, because of the ban in England. They are like an injured animal which is cornered..."
Asked if the perception of success in Britain would galvanise her association's members here, she said: "It has given us a new impetus. We can't be the last bastion of this bloody sport. It will go here. Tony Gregory TD has a bill drafted and, now with it gone in England, the chances are higher of being passed. This ban had to happen before we could succeed. We were trotting after England so now we are a step nearer." Asked if she foresaw an escalation of their campaign, she said: "We have hundreds of members but not all are active so we do not have the people on the ground that will go out there."
"We would love to see an influx of British sabs [saboteurs] but they all have jobs and families, so they cannot up and travel to another country. It is unlikely to happen. It's not a matter of requesting them we are all friends, and on the phone frequently. At the moment, the sabs are needed more than ever in England, because they have to see it through. When the ban comes in, the sabs are going to police it so it's not like they are going to be redundant."
RONAN GORMAN, Countryside Alliance Ireland chief executive, sees few parallels between Ireland
and Britain regarding the hunting "war" and says the political will does not exist here to replicate a ban.
"I do not think there will be any political contamination, in that politicians here will not look at what happened in the Commons and bring that here. It is a class war; nothing to do with animal welfare so I do not see the political dynamic at all."
Castigating Tony Blair for invoking the little-used Parliament Act to overrule the House of Lords and introduce the ban, Mr Gorman said those in favour of hunting with hounds would fight to the end.
"This is only one battle in a very long war. The Countryside Alliance have issued judicial proceedings to overturn legislation based on the 1949 Parliament Act, saying it is unconstitutional. Others are also looking at the human rights area, based on the right to make a living and rights attached to ownership of land. This could end up in the European Court of Human Rights. Also, there is an election next May, and a lot of rural communities will use it is a means to vent their frustration against a government that is, at best, indifferent to their views, or even anti-rural," he said.
Northerner Mr Gorman highlighted the fact that hare hunting/killing (and, accordingly, coursing) was banned in the North.
"Judicial proceedings are being taken against British minister Angela Smith (MP for Basildon and East Thurrock and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) who is renewing the ban she introduced this year, despite the fact the population of hares has increased sixfold."
He felt there was no threat of such a ban spreading south, and was certain that if devolved government returned to the North, the ban would be overturned.
Countryside Alliance Ireland is a 32-county organisation describing itself as "an expert and informed organisation that campaigns for the countryside, country sports and the rural way of life."
PAT LOUGHLIN, horse dealer and hirer, felt the ban in the UK could have a big effect. While he felt it would be impossible to enforce if it did occur, the export market for hunting horses would "dry up."
From Gowran, Co Kilkenny, Mr Loughlin annually ships about 40 horses overseas, 50% of them to Britain and the rest to the Netherlands and Germany.
Mr Loughlin said Irish hunts did not want to see an influx of British riders. However, he was concerned that a minority of Irish hunts would see an opportunity for a "quick buck." He foresaw insurance problems as a result, saying that if the visitor had a fall and claimed, it could have wider implications for hunting as a whole.
A SPOKESMAN for Fáilte Ireland said that 29,000 visitors came to Ireland in 2003 on equestrian holidays. However, he added: "The numbers of those on the hunt trail is so small it is not even tabulated... and we have a policy of not promoting hunting."
"The vast majority come here on show-jumping and trekking holidays.
"There are regular hunting visitors, but the number is small and, regardless, I do not think the hunts would be able to cope with a large influx."
PHILIP LYNCH, Chairman of the Farmers Against Foxhunting and Trespass, says he is "fearful of further serious damage from escalating numbers of hunters from the UK and other countries where the practice of hunting is banned."
In a statement, he asks, "As fox hunting is now banned in almost all of Europe, are we in Ireland to be the exception?"
He also refers to a death threat he received over the phone.
Mr Lynch, a retired farmer, says the Government has two options. One is to follow Britain and ban fox hunting completely ("a move we the poor croppies would welcome with open arms as it would rid us of these overbearing and aggressive trespassers").
Mr Lynch's other option is to organise hunting on a commercial basis (taking advantage of a growth in tourism). Proposing only that drag hunting be allowed, he says this could be confined to national parks, hilly areas or other suitable places with the owners' consent.
"As hunting would then be farmer-friendly, we could envisage it becoming a great national sport," he says, urging the IFA, ICMSA and the ICSA to stand by its members.
Mr Lynch concludes his statement by urging farmers to take precautions against hunts. He advocates that:
All gates be fitted with locks.
Electric fences be left on all winter.
Farmers alert neighbours to the presence of hunts.
Farmers not attempt to stop a hunt on their land without first arming themselves. "They should carry shotguns open and unloaded, but wear cartridge belts, as the hunt is armed with hooves and whips.
Farmers consider a "loaded slurry spreader as a useful deterrent", while a "crow banger could make a lot of noise. A silent dog whistle might also be useful."
CLAIRE RYAN, horse dealer, says hunters in Britain were "living in hope." She was recently asked to "keep an eye out for a horse" by a prominent field master of an English hunt who had bought a number of Irish hunting horses in the past.
Hunting's history stretches right back to the Roman era
HUNTING was first mentioned in England and Wales' ancient records in AD43, when the Romans brought new breeds of foxhounds, the brown hare, and new species of deer as quarry.
The Normans also, in 1066, brought their Talbot and Gascon foxhounds. It was about this time too that deer and boar hunting becomes royal preserves; in 1100, William II was killed by an arrow, while hunting deer.
It was in 1340, according to the records of late medieval times, that foxes begin to be hunted; Edward I was believed to have the first royal foxhound pack.
The earliest properly recorded foxhunt was in Norfolk in 1534 , and it gained ground after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, with dedicated foxhound packs emerging, although game remained the prime quarry.
Britain's oldest foxhunt, the Bilsdale in Yorkshire, was founded in the 1670s, followed by the Quorn in 1760.
The first enclosure acts are passed, making deer hunting harder and fox hunting more common. The new hedges and fences encouraged jumping.
Foxhunting was further boosted in the 1830s by the expanding railway system which allowed horses and hunters to travel throughout the country.
Although the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1824, it was 1891 before the Humanitarian League was founded, to campaign against hunting.
It was 1976 before the RSPCA called for a ban on fox hunting, and it was 1979 before a Labour party manifesto opposed hunting for the first time.
