Blood sports off tourists' radar as authorities refuse to plug hunting

IRELAND'S IMAGE:AS THE POLITICAL debate about hunting intensifies, tourism authorities have said they will not provide information about traditional field sports to Irish people or potential overseas visitors.

Fáilte Ireland said its policy was “not to promote blood sports” and it would not allow information about fox-hunting, hare-coursing and similar activities to be included in marketing material or on the Discover Ireland website.

Tourism Ireland, which markets Ireland worldwide, also said it would not provide potential tourists with information about hunting. Asked how the organisation responds to inquiries from people who want to come to Ireland to hunt, a spokeswoman said they would “probably be referred to a third party, such as a tour operator”.

The policy was criticised by DJ Histon of the Irish Coursing Club, who said thousands of foreign visitors travelled to Ireland every year to attend hare-coursing events. About 30,000 people came to its annual national meeting in Clonmel in February, he said, and an “estimated 4,000 were from overseas”, including Britain and the US.

Histon described hare coursing as “a legal and legitimate sporting activity which contributes to Irish life from environmental, economic and social perspectives, and the club would expect its events to be promoted in the same way as any other sporting or cultural activity by the national tourism authorities.”

The Irish Council Against Bood Sports has begun to lobby hotels to remove any reference to hunting from their literature and websites. Last month it wrote to Mount Wolseley, in Co Carlow, to complain that a brochure gave “the names and contact details of hunts in Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford”. The hotel had no comment about the request and said its brochures were “reviewed occasionally”.