Warning to FF TDs from Ward Hunt supporters

Fianna Fail TDs who support John Gormley's legislation proposing the ban of the Ward Union Hunt will pay the price by losing their seats. That was the message from Des Crofton, director of the National Association of Regional Game Councils, to a Rural Ireland Says Enough (RISE!) rally in Trim on Saturday. Hunt supporters and rural life campaigners from across the county and further afield took part in the major rally in Trim over the weekend in the lead up to this week's Dail vote on the Wildlife Bill, which proposes the abolition of the Skryne-based stag hunt. The rally in Trim was backed up by a protest outside the Dail on Thursday night last when the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, introduced the proposed legislation, and a major meeting in Simonstown, Navan, the previous night, at which speakers from across the racing, hunting and country pursuits circles addressed the issue. Mr Crofton said that the revised programme for government agreed between Fianna Fail and the Green Party will go into the records as one the most shameful deals ever perpetrated on rural people by an Irish Government. "Field sports are under attack and I am sorry to say our own Government is leading it," he said. "And lest there be any doubt about it, the blame rests entirely with Fianna Fail. When Fianna Fail agreed to allocate responsibility for hunting to a Green Minister, it was tantamount to putting the fox in charge of the chicken coup." He said that the Fianna Fail/Green deal on the Ward Union Stag Hunt and on puppy farms is about to become the most politically costly act by Fianna Fail in terms of so much goodwill squandered at such a high cost. "Some Fianna Fail backbenchers have said their party was 'sleep-walked' into this deal by Noel Dempsey. If they realise that, then they should wake up!" he added. Mr Crofton said that the Government has demonstrated a complete disconnection with the people it purports to represent. "They thought that by targeting a single hunt, no-one would raise an objection and that the sacrifice would satisfy the misguided political correctness of a Green agenda which has no connection to the realities or priorities of what the country faces. They were wrong, and we are here to show them just how wrong they got it. "The NARGC is not in the business of sacrificing any field sport, no matter how small or how large. If we allow one to be banned, we will be next because the Green agenda, despite what Gormley says, is to ban all field sports. Don't believe the assurances he has been giving in media interviews. Can you believe a man who tells the media that all stakeholders, including hunter representatives, have been consulted when no such consultation has taken place while at the same time he is happy to consult with and take the advices of the anti hunting organisations?" Mr Crofton said that those Fianna Fail and independent TDs who vote for Gormley's Bills "damage us and our way of life". He warned: "There will be no coming back from that and the party whip will be irrelevant for an out-of-work TD. If you vote with Gormley on any of his Bills, I advise you to start now looking up the vacancies pages in the daily papers. You are going to need that head start to find a new career when we put you on the dole queue alongside the tens of thousands who are already there because of your party's mismanagement in Government." He said that sympathetic Fianna Fail backbenchers who say they must obey the party whip are no use. "When they tell us that, they are, in reality, saying that they are going to destroy a part of our way of life and what we value, but they want us at the same time to give them our understanding and our votes. We will only win this battle by sending them a clear and unambiguous message - vote down Gormley's Bills or pay the price with the loss of your seat at the next general election. If you pick a fight with one of us, you pick a fight with all of us. That should be the message to every backbencher no matter which party, but especially Fianna Fail and the Independents." At the timne of going to press yesterday (Tuesday), the Dail was preparing to debate and vote on the controversial legislation, with independent TDs Jackie Healy Rae and Michael Lowry, who normally support the Governemnt, prediced to oppose the Bill, but Dublin TDs Finian McGrath and Maureen O'Sullivan supporting it. The intentions of Fianna Fail backbenchers weren't clear, although seven, including Thomas Byrne, Mary Wallace and Johnny Brady, had spoken out against it in the Dail last week. Fine Gael has pledged in writing that, when and if it gets into Government, it will repeal any legislation now being passed by the current government which attacks hunting.