Rural pursuits campaign will continue to next election
Ardfinnan, Clonmel.
Dear Editor,
I would like to comment on the letter Minister Martin Mansergh wrote on July 14 last defending the ban on stag hunting.
I have no doubt in my mind that if the issue was live coursing or live exports, Mr Mansergh would do the same. He has lost our trust to defend what is important to those of us involved in rural pursuits.
Mr Mansergh condemns RISE's campaign against the Greens but he is the very person who warned us about them in 2004.
In an article, published on May 29, 2004, about the proposed rainbow coalition of Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens, Mr Mansergh wrote - "The statements in their manifesto that the Greens are the only political force with an animal rights philosophy at its core, that it would phase out live exports, ban phosphates and campaign to have 10pc of EU land farmed organically by 2010 will alarm many farmers."
He continued - "What people should be concerned about is the danger of the type of impact that the SPD-Green coalition has had in Germany since 1999, with confidence reduced to a low ebb."
Stag hunting and fur farming were sacrificed to the Greens in return for their support on the Lisbon Treaty but Mr Mansergh and Fianna Fail misjudged this one very badly. It is not just an issue confined to a small group hunting stags in Co. Meath.
Everyone who hunts, shoots or fish now knows who will defend their interests if and when the time comes, and it is not Mr Mansergh.
The animal rights agenda is not limited to stag hunting or fur farming - the English Grand National was stopped by an animal rights group some years ago.
MEP Mairead McGuinness, speaking on RTE's Frontline programme, recently warned Kilkenny farmer Philip Lynch to be careful who he aligned himself with.
Philip Lynch is not the only one who needs to be careful who he aligns himself with.
The RISE campaign is not over. It is only beginning and when the general election is called, quite a few of the rural Fianna Fail TDs will reap the seeds they have sown.
Yours, John Marsh.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Clonmel
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
