Vol. 573 No. 5
183 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if a copy of the Kane Report 1997 to his Department regarding the hunting of red deer by the Ward Union Hunt Club will be placed in the Oireachtas Library. [25975/03]
I shall arrange for a copy of the report that monitored the activities of the club to be placed in the Oireachtas Library. The report's author, Mr. Kane, was a veterinary inspector of the then Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. His conclusions are based on the limited monitoring that was possible in the circumstances under which it was undertaken.
Subsequent scientific investigations were carried out into the welfare of deer used for carted stag hunting. These developments provided a basis for discussions with the club and for its development of a hunting code of conduct, in consultation with officials of the then Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands and of the Department of Agriculture and Food. At the conclusion of this process in September 1999, the Department of Agriculture and Food indicated to the then Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands its satisfaction with the code of conduct that the club submitted in support of its licence application.
Subsequent licences issued to the club include a condition it should carry out hunts in accordance with its approved code of practice. Its hunts have been monitored by conservation rangers from the national parks and wildlife service and veterinarians from the Department of Agriculture and Food.
