Where eagles dare – if ony the the cowardly poisoners would give them a flying chance

ALTHOUGH Ireland currently heads the EU league for environmental crimes, the systematic killing of wild eagles by farmers marks a new low in our country’s despicable environmental record.

But let’s not pussyfoot around with legal niceties or political correctness – prior to the eagles’ deaths, farmers had publicly threatened to kill these magnificent birds if they were released into the wild.

And they’ve carried out their threat – throughout the four provinces, more than a dozen of the 20 Norwegian eagles released in Munster are now corpses. Two red kites and three peregrine falcons have also been destroyed.