Letters to the Editor: Hunters hard done by

I only shoot what is needed, like any hunter, and your statement gives a totally false impression of hunting people.

As regards to the four duck species taken off the list, the NARGC (National Association of Regional Game Councils) offered data to Minister Noonan regarding bird count done by gun clubs, but the offer was ignored. What other country has taken these species off the list in Europe? As far as I am aware, none. Their numbers are actually increasing, proved by proper data.

Don’t forget it was hunters who advised the minister to take the curlew off the open list because hunters have the expertise about what’s happening on the ground, not like someone looking out through a pair of binoculars a few times a week.

Noel Greville

Offensive and ignorant article

Regarding an article in your paper, I would dearly love to know where you get your information from? As a hunter, shooter and conservationist of over 40 years I found your article offensive and ignorant. I honestly don’t know of any hunter who would throw away any game that they shoot (including woodcock). You have a responsibility to be fair and accurate in your reporting and this article certainly wasn’t any of these.

Gerry Gordon

Roscommon

Inaccuracies and bias in game list

Totally inaccurate and biased piece re shooting list .... Nobody who shoots game throws it away. They are delicacies and hard fought for!

Anthony Baggott

No hunter dumps shot woodcock

After reading the article by Donal Hickey, I found a lot of your information to be incorrect and was honestly shocked that a paper like the Irish Examiner would not at least fact check the information, such as the current state of populations of the four banned duck species added to the open season order — all showing good populations.

Regarding the section “Hunters throwing woodcock away” — woodcock are the king of gamebirds. EVERY person who hunts prizes the woodcock extremely highly. It is one of the best-tasting gamebirds and no hunter would ever throw one away.

I was pleased to see a section in the article on pollution, habitat destruction, and climate that play a massive part in loss of population of any animal.

I believe this article should be withdrawn and have all the facts checked and updated.

David Byrnes

******

McLean attacks all just poppycock

It was nice to see Irish International footballer James McClean as a guest on Patrick Kielty’s inaugural Late Late Show. 

Each year as we approach November 11, Irish society is forced to endure divisive controversy concerning Armistice Day, poppy-wearing, and the commemoration of the thousands of Irish who died serving with British forces during the Great War. This is particularly so in the case of the sectarianism directed at Irish footballer James McClean for over a decade now. The sectarianism directed at McClean challenges the English FA and Fifa to open a debate on whether English league players should be obligated to wear the poppy symbol on their football jerseys.

James McClean, who has branded the English FA hypocrites and cowards over their abysmal response to the bitter sectarian and racist invective he has been subjected to for years on football terraces throughout Britain, became the object of abuse in many of the British tabloids over his decision not to wear a poppy symbol.

McClean has, on numerous occasions, articulated a respect and gratitude for those who fought and died in both world wars and “mourns their deaths like every other decent person”. However, as McClean pointed out, for people from the North of Ireland, and specifically those from Derry, scene of the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, wearing the poppy is not just a simple non-controversial symbol to remember those who died in the Great War.

We are reminded ad nauseum that the poppy symbolises the sacrifice of millions of lives in defence of small nations and individual freedoms. Does that freedom include the freedom of individual choice?  Their sacrifice should be respected.

It seems that English football’s equality and inclusion organisation, Kick Racism Out Of Football, which is supposed to be at the heart of the fight against discrimination in football, hasn’t worked for James McClean. 

If any black footballer had been subjected to such appalling abuse as James McClean has received over many years, lots of football terraces throughout the UK would have been closed down. Why the double standards?

Tom Cooper

Templeogue

Dublin 6W

Life imitates art in Kanturk court

There’s an emotional scene in the movie, Roma, by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. 

A construction crew is tunnelling beneath modern Rome, creating a new subway line. Suddenly, their drill punctures the wall of a preserved villa, buried by the ages. The unexpected discovery sends the crew scrambling into the previously air-sealed space, to see what they have breached. In front of them is a room frozen in time. They are surrounded by statuary, a colourful fresco, and artefacts unseen in millennia.

The crew stares in amazement. Suddenly, the outside air rushing through the gaping hole begins to oxidise the entire surface of everything in the villa. Before their eyes, the workers witness priceless historical work dissolving into dust; gone forever.

In a case of life imitating art, a version of this scenario is unfolding in Kanturk, where the remains of a courthouse (actually a walled complex that also includes the bridewell and warden’s residence) are disappearing before our eyes.

The scenario in Kanturk is not as unexpected, and not as sudden, as in the Fellini film. The other distinguishing characteristic is this: it can be prevented.

The Kanturk Courthouse had been in continuous use for nearly 180 years. Other than a very few ‘contemporary’ touches allowing it to be used as recently as 25 years ago, nothing has changed. The courthouse remains unique for the historical perspective it offers. Calls for its preservation are being ignored by the Court Services.

Protecting the Bridewell is even more critical. It contains cells where prisoners, many of them from the era of our War of Independence as well as our Civil War, were housed. On its walls are hand drawn graffiti, attesting to their struggle for freedom, last words to loved ones, and other etchings that serve as simple identifiers, a last chance to be remembered as a patriot. For some, death was a shadow looming through the porthole.

Since its discovery, a noticeable degradation of this iconography has occurred, and ignoring calls for funding its preservation is incomprehensible.

Maybe the decision-makers at Court Services need to be reminded there is no such thing as ‘turning your back on history’. If they allow this unique structure and its artefacts to decay, the stain on that governmental agency will never be oxidised from our memories.

Kevin Howe

Mallow

Cork

Muscle dogs can’t deny vicious nature

Your columnist (Sarah Harte, Thursday 21/09/23, ‘Rather than ban certain breeds, can people just control their dogs?’) adds to the dangerous naieviety animating this debate. 

The problem with these dogs — muscle dogs — is that even if they are placid 99% of the time, they are uncontollable if, or more likely, when they behave in the way generations of dog breeders intended. They were, and sometimes still are, bred to fight and kill.

An out-of-control pitbull is a frightening sight and one no community should have to contemplate. They, even if only a minority of the breed, are too dangerous to be treated as tolerable pets. 

They have no place in our society, especially as there are so many plausible alternatives for those who love dogs. That so many of those happy to parade these timebomb dogs seem to have so little understanding of what they might do, only adds to the need to ban them.

Jack Power

Inniscarra

Cork