I move:—
That, with a view to preserving the stock of game birds and to prevent poaching, Dáil Eireann is of opinion:—
(a) that the sale or purchase of all game birds and wild fowl should be prohibited for a period of 21 days after the opening day of the appropriate shooting season:
(b) that the open season in respect of the following birds should be:—
(1) wild duck, geese or plover —1st September to 12th February;
(2) partridge—1st November to 30th November;
(3) pheasant—1st November to 31st January;
(c) that, in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed, there should attach to a conviction for the offence of shooting or taking any game out of season, an obligatory suspension of the gun licence of the offender for a minimum period of 12 months, the offender to have the right, after the expiration of three months after conviction, to apply to the court for the removal of the suspension, and
(d) that, in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed, there should attach to the conviction of the holder of a game dealer's licence for the offence of purchasing any game birds or wild fowl out of season an obligatory suspension of such licence for a minimum period of six months.
We move this motion not with a view to extending preservation or with a view to giving more encouragement to people to preserve; our view is that there is quite a lot of free shooting in Ireland and, please God, there always will be. We introduce the motion because we feel the game laws need to be amended and that a discussion in Dáil Eireann is the right way to deal with the question. We believe that the sale or purchase of game birds or wild fowl should be prohibited for a period of 21 days after the opening day of the shooting season. Our reason is that it is a well known fact that on the evening of the 12th August or the evening of the first day of the pheasant shooting season or the evening of the opening day of any shooting season, it is possible in hotels all over the country to sit down to a meal for which, of course, one pays rather more than the usual charge, and of which the main dish is a bird which was supposed to be shot that morning. In fact, in nine cases out of ten that bird was not shot that morning; it was shot many days before or a few days before.
This gives the poacher in the proper sense—and I would like to stress that, poacher in the proper sense—the opportunity to go out, shoot and dispose of the birds. The professional poacher can dispose of his birds easily because the birds can be in a dealer's premises on the morning of the shooting season. Particularly in regard to pheasant and partridge and grouse—I have no experience myself of grouse but I think the same applies—the first occasion on which the clutch of pheasants or the flock of grouse are shot at is the occasion when most birds can be shot. Therefore, it is very easy, three, four or five days before the season, for the professional poacher to get up early in the morning, go out and shoot a whole clutch of birds knowing he can get money for them immediately.
We believe it should not be possible legally for birds to be in a game dealer's premises on the first day of the shooting season nor for 21 days after. No hotelier should be in a position to serve game birds until well after the start of the shooting season. During the first days in which birds are shot at they are too easily killed. It may be said that in the case of large preserves where birds are reared and where there are very heavy expenses, the sale of the birds themselves is part of the revenue which pays the keeper's wages and the general expenses of the shooting. We believe that in most cases there would be no hardship on the owners of the shoots if this recommendation were carried out because most organised shoots do not take place in the first days of the shooting season. Pheasants are driven when the leaves have left the trees and when the pheasants have gone into the coverts. They are not driven in the open cornfields and fields of potatoes where they are found in the early days of the season. We think that the owners of large shoots would not be embarrassed in any way by not being in a position to sell birds until 21 days after the start of the season.
With regard to open seasons, we believe that the season for wild duck, geese and plover should start on 1st September and not in mid-August as heretofore. The plain reason for that is that ducks, particularly, are too easily shot in large numbers by professional poachers on the water or on the ground in the middle of August. We all know that they are called flappers. A person who can dispose of an entire flock of ducks in mid-August— that can be done at the present time— when these ducks, very often, are not fully developed, may go out and shoot them on the ground; one shot may kill six or seven birds and he can get his money for them the following morning. We think 1st September is a better date.
With regard to partridge, we think 15th October, which is the relevant date at the moment, is not late enough. Partridge cannot get off the loose furrows, drills of potatoes and can be wiped out. We believe that partridge shooting should start on 1st November.
In all this matter, our aim is to stop the shooting of birds which are not fully developed. Very often one may see a flock of pheasants in mid-November which are not fully developed. There are more flocks of pheasants which are not fully developed than flocks which are fully developed. The 1st October was altogether too early. When birds are not fully developed, they are less wary and can more easily be wiped out on the ground. The professional poacher can dispose of these birds without difficulty. We want to make it impossible legally to dispose of these birds until they are wary. We believe that in doing that we will not interrupt the activities of the holder of the large shoot. There are a few large shoots in the country and we do not think that they are any harm. They are very good as game sanctuaries. Most of us cannot enjoy them but we do not begrudge those who can. A large sanotuary, which is really what a large shoot is, where birds are reared, is a wonderful help. Birds come outside the shoot and breed and intermingle with birds outside and thus create a higher level of bird life than there would be were it not for the large shoot or game sanctuary.
Paragraph (c) of the motion, reads:—
"...that, in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed, there should attach to a conviction for the offence of shooting or taking any game out of season, an obligatory suspension of the gun licence of the offender for a minimum period of 12 months, the offender to have the right, after the expiration of three months after conviction, to apply to the court for the removal of the suspension,..."
Here again we feel that we do not want to touch anybody except the person who deliberately goes out to do the wrong thing. A person who walks across a field and finds himself on preserved land is committing an ordinary offence. It could happen to anyone. We are not worried about that. We do think that the person who shoots game out of season should have a very salutary sentence imposed on him. The most salutary sentence that can be imposed on a keen shooter is the suspension of his gun licence and the taking of his gun for a period. We are not being too drastic. We suggest that after the expiration of three months after conviction he should have the right to apply for the removal of suspension. That seems to be quite a mild way of dealing with such a case. The fact that he has to apply to the court for the removal of the suspension, which will attract certain publicity, will make the applicant feel very much ashamed and he will hardly repeat the offence.
The next matter with which I want to deal is the game dealer. A game dealer seeks to get his livelihood from this sport and should be most concerned to conserve stocks. Our suggestion, in paragraph (d)——
"that, in addition to any other penalty which may be imposed, there should attach to the conviction of the holder of a game dealer's licence for the offence of purchasing any game birds or wild fowl out of season an obligatory suspension of such licence for a minimum period of six months."
——seems to be the proper way to deal with offences by game dealers. If a game dealer makes it easy for the man for whom we want to make it hard, namely, the professional poacher, to come to him with an entire flock of pheasants or young ducks and if he buys them from him, he deserves the most salutary sentence that can be imposed. The worst thing that can happen him is the removal of his licence for a period of six months. Again, a man who seeks to supply hotels with game on the first day of the season, knowing that the hotels are buying the game in the knowledge that it has been shot out of season, deserves to have his licence suspended for a period of six months.
I want to say, in case anybody should be misled by the motion, that we are not very interested in game preservation. We regard it as good in places because it provides game sanctuaries but we are not interested in people who have preserves except to the extent of helping them to maintain in their preserves a high level of stock. We are out to make it hard for the professional poacher to ply his trade. There are too many of these people who will shoot pheasants off trees, too many who will shoot young flocks of ducks, having placed a little bit of grain at the edge of a stream; too many people who will go out before the shooting season and shoot birds in the knowledge that they can, even legally, dispose of them on the first morning of the shooting season. There are too many people who will try to trap birds and shoot birds after the season has ended. I move the adjournment of the debate.