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Stars from the world of entertainment call for ban on Ireland's cruel fur farming
09 July 2014
Over 200 members of the film, television and music industries have come together to urge Minister Simon Coveney to outlaw Ireland's cruel fur farming.
"We are all calling for an immediate ban on fur farming in Ireland," say the actors, directors, writers, musicians, producers, comedians, models and make-up artists in a joint statement.
United in demanding a ban by Fair City/The Clinic star Rachel Pilkington, the compassionate celebrities include Saoirse Ronan, Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Sharon Shannon, Bosco Hogan, Charlene Gleeson, Bryan Murray, Pauline McLynn and many more. See below for full list and accompanying comments.
Disturbing video footage, filmed at the weekend in Laois, shows the plight of mink on Irish fur farms. The animals are seen throwing themselves against the bars of their cages in futile attempts to get free.
Irish Council Against Blood Sports spokesperson, Aideen Yourell, who was present at a NARA protest outside the fur farm, describes as "very distressing and depressing" the sight of row upon row of sheds, containing the confined mink desperately trying to get free from the cages.
Fur farming is outlawed in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney - despite overwhelming opposition - has so far refused to ban it here, even though it is a minority industry with only five farms operating in the country.
"The Minister is proposing a so-called code of practice for fur farms, but this won?t address the intrinsic and inherent cruelty of confining wild animals in cages, and then gassing them to death at six months old," Aideen said. "This code of practice exhorts the operators to be 'respectful of mink' and develop a 'positive relationship between man and animal' but from what I saw on Saturday, there is no scope for such touchy feely sentiments to be implemented in such a ghastly and nightmarish operation."
"If we, as a supposedly civilised country, cannot legislate against this horrendous cruelty, we are sending out a message that we lack the courage to take on minority interests, that we are a gutless and backward country, which has a history of brushing unpleasant social and moral issues under the carpet, and only addressing these when we are embarrassed into it or have our arms twisted to do the right thing."
A Journal.ie opinion poll has shown that a massive majority want fur farming banned in Ireland. The poll recorded over 13,000 votes, with 79 per cent of voters expressing support for a ban. Excluding those who were unsure, the percentage in favour of a ban stands at 83 per cent.
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports thanks and commends all the celebrities for speaking out and providing a major boost to the campaign for a ban on fur farming. Minister Coveney must listen to the majority and act to end this shameful industry.
A big thank you to all of the following members of the film, television and music industries who are calling for a ban on fur farming...
"WE ARE ALL CALLING FOR AN IMMEDIATE BAN ON FUR FARMING IN IRELAND"
01 - Saoirse Ronan (Actor)
02 - Victoria Smurfit (Actor)
03 - Amy Huberman (Actor/Author)
04 - Ruth Negga (Actor)
05 - Orla Brady (Actor)
06 - Robert Sheehan (Actor)
07 - Lenny Abrahamson (Director)
08 - Tadhg Murphy (Actor)
09 - Joan Bergin (Designer)
10 - Jason Barry (Actor)
11 - Angeline Ball (Actor)
12 - Simon Delaney (Actor/Presenter)
13 - Laurence Kinlan (Actor)
14 - Sharon Shannon (Musician)
15 - Rachel Pilkington (Actor)
16 - Marion O' Dwyer (Actor)
17 - Geraldine Plunkett (Actor)
18 - Kelly Campbell (Actor)
19 - Luke Griffin (Actor)
20 - Clelia Murphy (Actor)
21 - Hugh O' Conor (Actor)
22 - Paul Ronan (Actor)
23 - Peadar Lamb (Actor)
24 - Eunice McMenamin (Actor/Teacher)
25 - Bill Murphy (Actor)
26 - Terry McMahon (Actor/Writer/Director)
27 - Norma Sheahan (Actor)
28 - Jason Figgis (Director)
29 - Dominic Mafham (Actor)
30 - Joe Rooney (Comedian)
31 - Muriel Bell (Hair/Make-up Artist)
32 - Tommy O' Neil (Actor)
33 - Jimmy Fay (Director)
34 - Una Kavanagh (Artist/Actor)
35 - Gerry McColgan (Producer)
36 - Ger Ryan (Actor)
37 - M?ire Hastings (Actor)
38 - Liz Lloyd (Actor)
39 - Maeve McGrath (Actor)
40 - Leigh Arnold (Actor)
41 - Liz Gill (Director)
42 - Isobel Mahon (Actor)
43 - Nuala Holloway (Artist/Teacher)
44 - Brendan Laird (Actor)
45 - Alan Stanford (Actor/Director)
46 - Jesse Dent Gallagher (Actor)
47 - M?ire N? Ghr?inne (Actor)
48 - Emma Colohan (Actor)
49 - Miriam Allen (M.D.Galway Film Fleadh)
50 - Gavin O' Connor (Actor)
51 - Megan Riordan (Actor)
52 - Frank Laverty (Actor)
53 - Caroline Grace-Cassidy (Actor/Author)
54 - Donna Dent (Actor)
55 - Martin Hanley (Writer/Animator)
56 - Joe Gallagher (Actor)
57 - Peter Sheridan (Director/Writer)
58 - Gerry Walsh (Actor)
59 - Aonghus ?g McAnally (Actor)
60 - Sinead Hanna (Production Coordinator)
61 - Paul Bushe (Editor)
62 - Sean Walsh (Producer/Director)
63 - George McMahon (Actor)
64 - Vinny Murphy (Writer/Director)
65 - Aisling O' Sullivan (Actor)
66 - Claudia Buthenhoff-Duffy (Film-Maker)
67 - Bosco Hogan (Actor)
68 - Lorcan Cranitch (Actor)
69 - Olwen Fouere (Actor)
70 - Ned Dennehy (Actor)
71 - Conall Morrison (Director)
72 - Tommy Fitzgerald (Actor/Film-Maker)
73 - Bob Quinn (Film-Maker)
74 - Eva Bartley (Actor)
75 - Kevin Liddy (Director)
76 - Simone Kirby (Actor)
77 - Gerard McSorely (Actor)
78 - David Heap (Actor)
79 - Peter Hanly (Actor)
80 - Moya Farrelly (Actor)
81 - David Mitchell (Actor)
82 - Alan Smyth (Actor)
83 - Bryan Murray (Actor/Presenter)
84 - Bern Deegan (Actor)
85 - Chris Newman (Actor)
86 - Gary Lydon (Actor)
87 - Paul Reid (Actor)
88 - Ruth Hegarty (Actor)
89 - Diarmuid Noyes (Actor)
90 - Fergal McElherron (Actor)
91 - Denise Pattison (Actor/Writer/Director)
92 - Andrew Bennett (Actor)
93 - Elaine Symons (Actor)
94 - David Wilmot (Actor)
95 - Barry McGovern (Actor)
96 - Martin Duffy (Writer/Director)
97 - Jonathan Ryan (Actor)
98 - Melissa Nolan (Actor)
99 - Vicki Madden (Writer)
100 - Andrea Coyne (Actor)
101 - Des Keogh (Actor)
102 - Rita-Marie Lawlor (Actor/Film-Maker)
103 - Mark McCabe (Actor/Writer)
104 - Hannah Quinn (Assistant Director)
105 - Dylan Tighe (Actor)
106 - Ryan Andrews (Actor)
107 - Louise Marie Kerr (Actor)
108 - Susan Slott (Actor)
109 - Colm O' Maonla? (Actor)
110 - Michael Sheehan (Actor)
111 - Billie Traynor (Actor)
112 - Ciara O' Callaghan (Actor)
113 - Alan Shortt (Actor/Comedian)
114 - Conor Mullen (Actor)
115 - Alan Cook (Writer/Actor/Director)
116 - Peter Gaynor (Actor)
117 - Karl Shiels (Actor)
118 - Joe Savino (Entertainer)
119 - Donal O' Kelly (Writer/Actor)
120 - Andrew Lynch (Actor)
121 - Eoin Quinn (Actor)
122 - Sean T. O' Meallaigh (Actor)
123 - Dawn Bradfield (Actor)
124 - Ciaran Tanham (Cinematographer)
125 - Ali White (Actor)
126 - Eddie Jackson (Actor/Writer)
127 - Sean Doyle (Actor)
128 - Sorcha Furlong (Actor)
129 - Annette Flynn (Actor)
130 - Liana O' Cleirigh (Actor)
131 - Gareth Philips (Writer/Producer)
132 - TJ O' Grady Peyton (Director/Producer)
133 - Geoff Minogue (Actor)
134 - Tara Flynn (Actor/Writer)
135 - Honor Heffernan (Singer/Actor)
136 - Marcella Plunkett (Actor)
137 - Conal Kearney (Actor)
138 - Aoibheann McCaul (Actor)
139 - Vicky Burke (Actor)
140 - Jenny Dixon (Actor/Model)
141 - Georgia Doyle (Model)
142 - Dave O' Sullivan (Actor)
143 - Daragh O' Malley (Actor)
144 - Jasmine Brady (Actor}
145 - Kate O' Toole (Actress)
146 - Stephen O' Halloran (Writer)
147 - Niamh Quirke (Actor)
148 - John O' Dowd (Actor)
149 - Lucy Vigne Welsh (Actor)
150 - Amilia Clarke Stewart (Actor)
151 - Sarah Flood (Actor)
152 - Cara Christie (Actor)
153 - Leah Egan (Actor)
154 - Victor Burke (Actor)
155 - Neill Fleming (Actor)
156 - Jennifer Davidson (Writer)
157 - Paul Tylak (Actor/Comedian)
158 - Tom Hall (Director/Writer)
159 - David Gilna (Screenwriter/Actor)
160 - Jenny McGovern (Make-Up Artist)
161 - Peter McDonald (Actor/Writer)
162 - Paul Duane (Director/Writer)
163 - Rory Nolan (Actor)
164 - Kevin Murnane (Make-Up Artist)
165 - Lorraine Pilkington (Actor)
166 - Kamil Krolak (Director)
167 - Jonny Figgis (Director/Producer/Writer)
168 - Martha Fitzpatrick (Actor)
169 - Rachel Sarah Murphy (Actor)
170 - Laura Way (Actor/Director)
171 - Adrian Devane (Assistant Director)
172 - Pauline McLynn (Actor)
173 - R?oghnach R?n Ni Ghr?oghair (Writer)
174 - David Murray (Actor)
175 - Hannah Andrews (Make-Up Artist)
176 - Emmet J. Scanlan (Actor)
177 - Adam Fergus (Actor)
178 - Enda Oates (Actor)
179 - Kieran Slyne (Cameraman)
180 - Joe Hanley (Actor)
181 - Neili Conroy (Actor)
182 - Martina Niland (Producer)
183 - Patrick Murphy (Actor)
184 - Dylan Tighe (Actor)
185 - Jordan Ballantine (Director)
187 - Aaron Monaghan (Actor)
188 - Michael Scott (Director/Producer)
189 - Rachael Dowling (Actor)
190 - Gary Duggan (Writer)
191 - Padraig Murray (Actor)
192 - Colin O' Donoghue (Actor)
193 - Peter Coonan (Actor)
194 - Joe McKinney (Actor)
195 - Laura MacNaughton (Producer)
196 - Maclean Burke (Actor)
197 - Nick McCarthy (Assistant Director)
198 - Rosie Blackmore (Make-Up Artist)
199 - Carl Austin (Writer)
200 - Niamh Daly (Actor)
201 - Rob Cawley (Writer/Producer)
202 - Michael Legge (Actor)
203 - Stephen Rea (Actor)
204 - Charlene Gleeson (Actor)
COMMENTS:
"I cannot understand how legislation allows such intolerable cruelty to be visited upon any living creature. I cannot understand how any form of animal cruelty can be permissible in what is surely by now a more progressive, civilized and educated society. As adults, parents and leaders, we continue to teach children everyday how to treat animals simply by the manner in which we treat them ourselves and whatever is considered acceptable to us will soon become acceptable to them. We simply cannot allow an injustice like this to continue." - Rachel Pilkington (The Clinic/Glenroe/Fair City)
"In this day and age, there can be absolutely no justification for the mistreatment of animals in the name of fashion. It is long past time that the Irish government stood up and brought our legislation into line with that of their counterparts in the north. I support an immediate and total ban on fur factory farming in Ireland." - Aonghus Og McAnally (Ella Enchanted/When Harvey Met Bob/P.S. I Love You)
"The breeding and killing of animals in such a cruel manner is completely wrong and immoral...I can't even begin to imagine the pain and fear they must endure." - Geraldine Plunkett (Glenroe/8.5 Hours/The Clinic)
"If a fur farmer did to a cat or dog what they routinely do to minks, foxes, and many other animals, they would be charged with extreme cruelty. I hope the government will now begin to share the public's grave concerns for the welfare of animals in intensive confinement and act to ban this industry". - Orla Brady (Mistresses/A Love Divided/Proof)
"I was shocked when I found out about this. The fact that this is Still happening in Ireland is incredible." - Paul Reid (Raw/Love is the Drug/Dublin in Pieces)
"I would like to add my voice to the many who are campaigning for fur farming to be made illegal in Ireland. Ireland has pioneered so many pieces of groundbreaking legislation. It led the way with a smoking ban for instance - that was followed eventually by a sceptical Uk after it proved to be an unmitigated success. So it seems a mystery to me, baffling, that fur farming can find one of its last remaining homes in Western Europe, in Ireland. I hardly need to say what is appalling about fur farming. It is utterly self evident. It is beyond comprehension that sentient creatures can be bred, raised and destroyed in this disgusting, tortuous way - simply for their fur. It is degrading for the people who work in these wretched places, degrading for the fools who buy these garments and degrading to the dignity of any country that turns a blind eye to this barbaric and cruel industry. I'm sure that there are many silly reasons why fur farming has slipped through the legislative net until now. But now seems to be the time where change can happen. Please, please use this moment to ban fur farms completely from Ireland, without qualification, with no caveats, forever. Thank you so much for listening to the vast majority of people who abhor this disgusting industry." - Dominic Mafham (Casualty/Land Girls/The Clinic)
"I am in complete agreement with a total ban on fur farming in the Republic. It is cruel and unnecessary." - David Heap (My Boy Jack/The Tudors/Fair City)
"Fur farming is both vain and immoral. Fur is a completely unnecessary luxury item. The animals concerned are given no quality of life. I find it disgusting and cruel. These creatures have the same capacity to experience pain as as you and I." - Aisling O' Neill (Fair City/Goldfish Memory/Accelerator)
"I abhor this barbaric practice and call for an immediate ban by the Irish Government. It really is a shocking state of affairs that fur factory farming is going on around us." - Gary Lydon (War Horse/The Guard/The Clinic)
"How can we, as a civilized society, allow such appalling treatment of living creatures in the name of fashion?" - Elaine Symons (Holby City/Waking the Dead/The Magdalen Laundry)
"I don't like your fashion business mister/And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin/I don't like what happened to my sister First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin" (Leonard Cohen)...Just one of many inhuman aspects of the so-called 'fashion industry' - fur 'farming' is cruel and barbaric in a 21st century civilised society. Footage conclusively proves that confining animals in such appalling conditions renders them pathetically neurotic and denies their right to a natural existence. The fact that some of the species 'farmed' are - by instinct and in their natural habitat - fierce predators is utterly beside the point. Let's take Dublin." - Jonathan Ryan (The Tudors/Game of Thrones)
"This is barbaric behaviour and there is absolutely no justification why it should be accepted in any society under any circumstances. I don't believe it is driven by a need or desire to cause pain but I do believe it is driven by greed and a pure lack of will and creativity to find another way to earn a living. In an age when all fabrics can be manufactured to the highest standards without causing pain to a single animal, this act of violence is completely unnecessary, unjustified and vulgar. I support the ban on fur farming one hundred percent." - Bill Murphy (Ordinary Decent Criminal/Jack Taylor/Legend)
"Fur farming is a cruel & archaic practice which needs to be abolished immediately. The pain these animals endure is unimaginable & it is our moral duty to protect them from this unnecessary torture." - Louise Marie Kerr (Becoming Jane/Glenroe)
"I thought I'd add some sayings from finer minds..."The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them. That is the essence of inhumanity." (George Bernard Shaw). "Deeper minds of all ages have had pity for animals." (Friedrich Nietzsche). "Get a feel for fur: Slam your fingers in a car door. " (Anonymous) "Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote." (Paul Harvey)...my feelings are implicit." - Kelly Campbell (Sensation/One Hundred Mornings/Love/Hate)
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
"Fur farming is inherently cruel and inhumane. An outright ban on fur farming is the only choice that is compatible with animal welfare" - Clare Daly TD
"I would love to see fur farming banned. It has been scientifically proven that cruelty and pain are involved for the mink" - Maureen O'Sullivan TD
"Fur farming is a deplorable practice which is both archaic and barbaric in nature. It is utterly immoral to allow it to continue? - Rachel Pilkington (Fair City/Glenroe/The Clinic)
"I grew up in Ireland and used to wear fur. I had a change of heart when I learned how minks and foxes on fur farms are crammed into tiny cages and driven so crazy by confinement. Please add Ireland to the growing list of countries, including Northern Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Britain that have banned the cruel practice of fur farming" - Actress Anjelica Huston
"Fur farming is a shameful, cruel industry that has no place in modern Ireland. Please make Irish people proud and enact an immediate ban." - Singer Songwriter Imelda May
ACTION ALERT
Please join calls on Minister Coveney to scrap the code of practice and introduce a total ban on cruel fur farming.
Sign and share our petition: Ban fur farming in Ireland
Demand a ban on fur farming in Ireland. Email Simon Coveney now.
Email: Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie
CC: AnimalHealthAndWelfareAct@agriculture.gov.ie
Tel: 01-607 2884 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01 661 1013 and 021 437 4862
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Minister Coveney,
I support a total ban on fur farming and an immediate closure of Ireland's fur farms.
In these hellholes, animals suffer a horrendous life of misery before being cruelly gassed to death. There is absolutely no justification for allowing this cruelty to continue.
Please ban fur farming now.
Yours sincerely,
[Name/Location]
8 out of 10 want fur farming banned in Ireland: opinion poll
02 July 2014
A Journal.ie opinion poll has shown that a massive majority want fur farming banned in Ireland.
The poll which asks "Should we ban fur farming in Ireland?" has so far recorded over 13,000 votes, with 10,424 (or 79 per cent) of voters expressing support for a ban. Just over 2,000 opposed a ban while 654 were not sure. Out of those who voted yes or no, the percentage in favour of a ban stands at 83 per cent.
ICABS has brought this poll to the attention of Minister Simon Coveney and urged him to respect public opinion and put in place a ban on this shameful indsutry.
You can vote in Journal.ie's poll at:
www.thejournal.ie/poll-fur-farming-1001360-Jul2013/
Sign and share our petition: Ban fur farming in Ireland
Make a donation to ICABS
Please consider making a small donation to ICABS. For more details, please click on the button below or follow this link to find out how to become a campaign supporter. Thank you.
