Take the gun out of Irish tourism
They come here to declare war oneverything that moves. Whether it flies, runs, waddles or floats, they blow it to perdition.
But worst of all, from a nature lover's point of view, they target the humble songbird. In parts of rural Ireland, the celebrated dawn chorus has become a thing of the past.
Instead of awakening to the sweet sound of birdsong, country-dwellers are all too often roused by a chorus of blazing guns. Fields and woods take on the appearance of abattoirs. Winter skies over whole swathes of our countryside have become shooting galleries.
These bird killers are invited to our country by tour operators who acquire small but separate pockets of land inside which the visitors are entitled to shoot 'within the law'. But that's not what happens in practice.
The gunmen not only stage dawn raids on the designated areas but also venture onto neighbouring lands and property where they have no shooting rights whatsoever. These include areas that have been carefully nurtured by voluntary conservation groups.
Armed to the teeth, they traverse the countryside in jeeps and quads in search of easy prey. Habitats and hedgerows are destroyed, and no quarter is shown. Trespassing and poaching to their heart's content, they open fire on any furred or feathered creature that takes their fancy.
They do it all year round, of course, but the Christmas/New Year period seems to require a special effort on their part.
Species protected under the Wildlife Act are gunned down without mercy. Blackbirds, robins, linnets, thrushes, lapwings, and finches in and out of season become legitimate targets.
Even swans have been 'bagged' by these thrill-seekers. And the authorities seem powerless to tackle them partly because of the difficulty in serving a summons to a person in another jurisdiction... but also because the culprits have long since departed the scene of slaughter by the time gardaí or wildlife rangers arrive to investigate.
The tour operators who facilitate this madness do a grave disservice to our wildlife heritage and rural ecology. And the estimated 3,000 foreign shooters who come here each year make only a minor contribution to the economy.
The average stay for a tourist shooter is two days and most of them don't check into in fancy hotels, availing instead of B&Bs. So the damage they inflict on our wildlife cannot be justified on economic grounds.
It's about time we took the gun out of Irish tourism. This issue goes beyond simply protecting wildlife on conservation or welfare grounds. A precious natural asset is under attack. People who live in parts of Ireland afflicted by these shooting party holidays are entitled to protection from the likely loss of their beloved songbirds.
The tour operators and their gun-toting clients from mainland Europe need to get the message loud and clear: stop killing our singers!
John Fitzgerald
Lower Coyne Street
Callan
Co Kilkenny
