Ward Union Hunt has some reservations on new licence

The Ward Union Hunt has received its licence to hunt for the coming season from Environment Minister John Gormley, and says it is happy to have the licence and will hunt, but that it has certain reservations about the enforcement of it, particularly in relation to road safety issues. Many of the issues dealt with in the 34 conditions are sensible matters which are already dealt with in their own code of practice, they added. The licence allows the hunt meet between 13th October and 31st March next, with meets limited to 50 per hunt, except on St Stephen"s Day when a maximum of 80 on horseback is permitted. The hunt has indicated that it intends to meet at noon rather than the customary 1pm, and will discontinue hunts around 3pm should the field masters become concerned that the hunt may interfere with local schoolchildren at collection time. In granting the licence for the forthcoming season, the Minister took account of the High Court settlement reached with the Ward Union Hunt earlier in the year relating to the conditions attached to the previous licence. The Minister also took into account the reports by officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of his Department who monitored last season"s hunt meetings. Mr Gormley says he was particularly concerned with the protection of the deer from undue stress and two new conditions have been included on the new licence to reflect his concerns in this regard. The new conditions allow the deer to travel at least two kilometres before the hounds are released or if this cannot be confirmed the hounds may not be released until 30 minutes after the release of the deer. In addition, the hounds must not encounter the deer at close quarters and will be required to withdraw to a distance of 150 metres. These new conditions will still allow the hounds to pick up the scent of the deer but address concerns that the hounds should be kept well away from the deer.