Madam, - Aideen Yourell's letter of January 5th describes the cruelty and terror inflicted on defenceless Irish deer by the so-called "sporting" Ward Union Hunt in Co Meath.
She lists a heartbreaking catalogue of unnecessary pain, suffering, and crude savagery gleaned from authentic reports obtained by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports that have been carelessly inflicted on these terrified animals. The list included the description of a hunted deer hanging from its front leg on barbed wire, a deer sustaining fractured ribs and dying after attempting to jump a high wall - a slow and agonising death, no doubt - and many more equally gruesome facts.
Ironically, on the same page your Editorial pays fitting tribute to the passing of Tony Gregory, a public representative whose death diminishes us all and whose public stance on blood sports went well beyond lip-service.
What a fitting tribute it would be to his memory were some courageous people in Dáil Éireann to get together, even at this late stage, cut through the protocols and shilly-shallyings, and actually succeed in having blood sports banned in Ireland. For a start they could have the Ward Union licence rescinded. How about it, Minister Gormley? - Yours, etc,
PEG SHEEHAN,
Kildoragh,
Ballinamore,
Co Leitrim.