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Failte Ireland's anti-hunt move welcomed
16 August 2006 In the Autumn-Winter 2005 edition of our Animal Voice newsletter, we praised Failte Ireland for removing numerous references to hunting from their ireland.ie website - 29 were taken off but two remained. We are pleased to report that, following a recent search of the site, we can confirm that all hunt details have now been deleted. This is in line with the tourist board's policy of not promoting hunting in Ireland. Thank you to everybody who contacted Failte Ireland to ask them to completely exclude hunt information from their website. Article from Animal Voice, Autumn-Winter 2005
Hunt details deleted from Failte website
Failte Ireland has removed 29 references to hunting from its ireland.ie website. The positive move was in response to an Irish Council Against Blood Sports' appeal in April. It's the second such response from the national tourism board. Regular Animal Voice readers will recall that further to a similar appeal back in 2003, five web pages on the equestrian section of the ireland.ie site were amended to exclude hunting. At the time, we thanked and congratulated the board for its action. Imagine our surprise then, when we checked back in on the Failte Ireland website earlier this year to find numerous references to hunting had crept back into the content. They appeared within entries for various venues, guesthouses, hotels and equestrian centres and among the hunts mentioned were the Tara Harriers, the Meath Foxhounds, the North Tipperary Foxhounds, and the Westmeath Hunt. One listing for an equestrian centre highlighted the availability of hunting holidays with the local foxhunts. Another centre proudly claimed that it was located "at the heart of our great hunt country". A guesthouse entry stated that "hunting can be arranged" while a hotel listed hunting as one of the local attractions. Yet another listing on the site offered the "opportunity to hunt with the famous Galway Blazers". Hunting was also mentioned on the general information pages for certain towns. The Templemore entry drew attention to the fact that "The North Tipperary Foxhounds hunt the district". The information for Navan reminded readers that "The Meath Foxhounds and the Tara Harriers hunt in the area." The Craughwell page revealed the proximity of the Galway Blazers' hunt kennels. Mallow, meanwhile, was praised as being "well known as a hunting centre". Thankfully, all of the above have been removed as well as numerous others. ICABS thanks Failte Ireland - again - for acting to ensure that their marketing material does not in any way promote blood sports. In correspondence to Senior Marketing Officer, Rhonwen Watson, we reminded her of Failte Ireland's anti-hunt stance. This was confirmed most recently in an Irish Examiner article in January. A Failte spokesperson was quoted as saying that they have "a policy of not promoting hunting". This campaign against Failte Ireland giving publicity to hunts was largely successful but not entirely so. Hunting continues to be included in two remaining listings. The listing for Bansha House Equestrian Centre refers to "Hunting Holidays with the Tipperary and Scarteen Hounds" while hunting is also listed as a facility available through Newcastle Riding School in Dublin. We will continue to press Failte to eliminate these two remaining hunt references. Action Item Please check your tourism booklets, holiday brochures and travel magazines for any references to blood sports in Ireland or abroad. If you spot any positive reference to events involving animal cruelty, please contact the company to complain. Send details to ICABS and we will also lodge a complaint.
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