GUN club members in Co Clare are angry at a Government move to ban shooting from the proposed Burren National Park. Clare's 1,100 members of the National Association of Regional Game Councils are targeting the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, who has made the decision. They claim the Minister is depriving them of a traditional right.
The Minister engaged consultants to draw up a management plan for the Burren and they have recommended that sport shooting be banned in the new national park in accordance with the IUCN World Conservation Union criteria for national parks.
The National Association of Regional Game Councils argues that the World Conservation Union criteria have no such requirement. The director of the council, Mr Des Crofton, said his organisation adhered to the World Conservation Union criteria and it expected the Government to do the same.
He said the only justification for banning hunting in a protected area would be where a particular species needed protection. There were no species currently on the Open Seasons Order - the huntable list - whose populations were threatened.
The gun club members will air their grievances at a meeting in Ennis tonight.