Labour Chief Whip in Staggering U Turn on Bloodsports!

national | environment | press release Saturday May 15, 2010 01:01 by Anti-Bloodsports

In recent weeks, Deputy Emmet Stagg has gone public on the issue of carted stag hunting, stating his opposition to the forthcoming Bill that proposes a ban on this cruel practise. This has come as a huge shock to animal welfare people...because the same Deputy is on record as being against ALL bloodsports...

Release from: Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports

Labour Chief Whip in Staggering U-Turn on bloodsports issue!

Labour Chief Whip Emmet Stagg, who in the past fortnight has pledged to vote against the Bill to ban stag hunting, which he condemns as part of a “Green Agenda”, formerly issued a statement, just rediscovered by CACS, in which he strongly backed the abolition of ALL bloodsports!

Deputy Stagg issued the statement on the occasion of a rally against live hare coursing at Balbriggan, County Dublin, prior to the debate on the Gregory Bill in the early 1990s.

This statement is reproduced on page 182 of a book called Coursing Ban be Damned (published in 1994), by architect and former Fianna Fail Senator, Jack Fitzsimons of Kells, County Meath.

It reads:

I unfortunately cannot attend this rally. But on behalf of myself and the Labour Party I want to express my full and unequivocal support for the banning of hare coursing in Ireland and throughout the European Community.

It is a travesty that hare coursing is referred to as “a sport”. It is a sadistic, cruel and barbarous activity and it is a discredit to our society that such activities remain legal. The vast majority of Irish people want this activity banned and the Labour Party commits itself to working with any other political party in Dail Eireann to bring about an end to hare coursing and other so-called field sports.

It is imperative that the Irish Council Against Blood Sports continue their campaign and that people highlight in the media the barbarity of this activity. Only through a campaign of protest can we bring enough pressure on the Government and political parties to ban hare coursing.

I wish this and future protests every possible success. Again, on behalf of the Labour Party, we will assist this campaign in every way possible.

Deputy Emmet Stagg

End of statement

CACS and, we presume, other groups backing the proposed stag hunt ban including the Green Party, must find this peculiar U-Turn on the part of Labour’s Chief Whip astonishing and inexplicable.

Following is a letter that CACS has just sent to Deputy Stagg and his colleagues in the parliamentary Labour Party. We wonder how he will explain these widely conflicting positions in relation to the abolition of blood sports!

Appeal to Emmet Stagg and other Labour Deputies:

Deputy Emmet Stagg,
Chief Whip,
The Labour Party
Dail Eireann,
Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.

(CC Labour Dail Deputies)

Re Labour’s position on the Wildlife Bill and Carted Stag Hunting

Dear Mr. Stagg,

With reference to the above matter, since replying to your email, in which you stated that you support “country sports”, my attention has been drawn to a statement you issued on the occasion of a rally against live hare coursing at Balbriggan, County Dublin, prior to the debate on the Gregory Bill in the early 1990s.

This statement is reproduced on page 182 of a book called Coursing Ban be Damned (published in 1994), by architect and former Fianna Fail Senator, Jack Fitzsimons of Kells, County Meath.

Your statement reads:

I unfortunately cannot attend this rally. But on behalf of myself and the Labour Party I want to express my full and unequivocal support for the banning of hare coursing in Ireland and throughout the European Community.

It is a travesty that hare coursing is referred to as “a sport”. It is a sadistic, cruel and barbarous activity and it is a discredit to our society that such activities remain legal. The vast majority of Irish people want this activity banned and the Labour Party commits itself to working with any other political party in Dail Eireann to bring about an end to hare coursing and other so-called field sports.

It is imperative that the Irish Council Against Blood Sports continue their campaign and that people highlight in the media the barbarity of this activity. Only through a campaign of protest can we bring enough pressure on the Government and political parties to ban hare coursing.

I wish this and future protests every possible success. Again, on behalf of the Labour Party, we will assist this campaign in every way possible.

End of Statement

All of us in the Campaign for Abolition of Cruel Sports are flabbergasted to find that you adopted such a very clear and principled stance of unequivocal opposition to recreational cruelty to animals on that occasion, as expressed in that statement you issued, and yet are now denouncing the very people in politics who are striving to ban the “so-called field sports” to which you alluded in your statement.

I take it that carted stag hunting was among the “other so-called field sports” you had in mind?

We respect the right of any member of the Oireachtas to have an opinion on any given issue, and to give voice to that opinion, but we, and other members of the public, are also surely entitled not to be misled by such conflicting statements from TDs or Senators.

Your recent comments and assurances have been praised by the well financed pro-stag hunting lobby, whose full time PRO is paid nine hundred Euro PER DAY for his services in promoting the type of activity you once led people to believe you wanted banned.

We find it disturbing that any Labour Deputy would fall for the kind of scare-mongering propaganda that is emanating from the well-connected stag hunting set.

Contrary to what the stag hunters and their support groups are alleging, there is no proposed legislation to interfere with fishing or shooting in the pipeline and no campaign that we are aware of relating to these practises.

As you so rightly pointed out that in that statement reproduced above, the vast majority of people in Ireland are opposed to blood sports (hare coursing, stag hunting, and fox hunting), and this is borne out by numerous marketing surveys. These practises have nothing to do with the food chain or pest control. They involve deliberate cruelty to animals and serve no purpose apart from providing pleasure and casual recreation for the people who participate in them.

Your recent claim to be unconcerned one way or the other about stag hunting is completely at variance with your statement to the Balbriggan rally.

The Labour Party has in the past taken a principled stance on virtually every social, economic, and political issue of importance that has arisen throughout the history of the State. It has spearheaded efforts to create a fairer and more compassionate society and its parliamentary members have been to the forefront in speaking out against cruelty to animals. Former Ministers Barry Desmond and Michael D. Higgins were, respectively, a long time President and Vice-President of ICABS.

We can appreciate that the Bill proposing a ban on carted stag hunting is not the most pressing matter facing the nation right now. But all that animal welfare groups and everyone concerned about the horrific cruelty of this practise want is for Labour to remain true to its time-honoured principles…by supporting this milestone animal protection measure.

The Bill will not in any way prevent deer culling or the farming of deer. It merely protects deer from being terrorised with hounds for fun in parts of Meath and North County Dublin. If you can find time to view the brief film of a carted stag hunt, you will see the indisputable evidence of exactly what the “sport” entails.

We therefore urge the Labour Party to assist the process of enacting legislation to protect animals from this gross and completely unnecessary cruelty.

Thanking you for your kind attention,

Sincerely,

John Fitzgerald,
Campaign for the Abolition
Of Cruel Sports