BORD Failte denied yesterday that a small anti blood sports organisation had won a major moral victory over it by forcing it to end the promotion of hunting holidays in Ireland.
A Bord Failte spokeswoman confirmed that promotional literature advertising Ireland as a hunting and shooting country is no longer sent out.
But information on activities such as fox and stag hunting would be available, she said, as a "matter of courtesy" to people who require it.
"We are not sending out information like we used to, but if people call looking for information we will refer them to the people who run these activities, which are perfectly legal," she said.
She accepted that one reason for not promoting hunting activities was their controversial nature, and also because hunting, was a minority activity.
"We will, however, give callers contact numbers for hunt clubs throughout the country if they are required. This is a simple matter of courtesy," she said.
The Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports, in Tipperary, has claimed that a series of people who made phone queries to the board's Dublin headquarters were told that hunting promotion was coming to an end.
"It is heartening to those who favour a ban on the baiting, torture and dismemberment of wild animals for `sport'. We hope it will also prompt more decisive action on the issue from Minister Jimmy Deenihan," said a CACS statement.
The CACS claimed it had been pressing Bord Failte to abandon promotion of hunting holidays since 1987. The board had responded to pickets on its Dublin and New York offices and a letter writing campaign from Americans who said they would boycott Ireland because of the hunting promotions.