THE Ward Union Staghounds in Co Meath took part in a stag hunt yesterday even though the Dail had been told the organisation had no licence to bunt under the Wildlife Act of 1976.
Asked if the stag hunt had a licence, the hunt secretary, Mr Oliver Russell, said negotiations were taking place with the Wildlife section of the Department of Arts Culture and the Gaeltacht.
The Minister, Mr Higgins, told Mr Tony Gregory TD earlier this month that a licence was required to hunt deer with a pack of stag hounds. "The last such licence issued to the Ward Union Stag Hunt was in October 1988. Since then the hunt has made no further application nor has any further licence been issued to them under Section 26 of the Wildlife Act 1976."
The secretary of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, Ms Aideen Yourell, said she checked with the Department last Monday and was told the hunt had no licence, even though it had been invited to apply. She was told a licence was necessary before a hunt could take place.
Yesterday the Garda press office would only say a peaceful protest had taken place and the hunt had gone ahead. Asked if a licence had been shown, the spokesman said gardai were carrying out investigations to establish the legality of the hunt.
Ms Yourell said the Irish Council Against Blood sports was against the stag hunt not because it appeared to have no licence, but because it was cruel.
Stag hunts had not even the excuse that they were involved in conservation or hunting vermin. The deer was chased and terrorised simply for entertainment and kicks, she said.
Stag hunts breed deer for hunts. A deer, usually a young female, is released and chased for three to four hours. Afterwards, it is usually recaptured. The Ward Union is the only stag hunt in the Republic. It hunts twice a week between October and March. There is one stag hunt in Northern Ireland, the County Down Stag Hunt.
The protest at Ashbourne, Co Meath, against the Ward Union's hunt, was carried by the Save Our Stag Campaign.