Cuireann An Phoblacht fáilte roimh litreacha ónár léitheoirí. Scríobh i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla, 200 focal ar a méid. Déantar giorrú ar litreachta más gá. Cuir do litir chuig [email protected]

An Phoblacht welcomes readers’ letters. Write in Irish or English, 200 words maximum. Letters may be edited for brevity. Send your letters to [email protected]. No attachments please

Coursing debate revisited

Last week’s letters section was dominated by the non-debate on hare coursing. Petty business, one might say, in the light of historical achievements. Maybe. But it appears to me to raise two fundamental issues. Firstly the moral element of this so-called sport; then there is the undiplomatic manner in which this non-debate was managed. If Councillor Ó Súilleabháin in his letter is correct, two pro-coursing delegates spoke and no one from the anti-coursing non-debate was permitted to speak.
To take the moral issue, releasing relatively harmless creatures to be chased by quite vicious animals hardly seems fair or just. For humans to take pleasure in such activity in the 21st century is breathtaking – and please don’t give me the historical guff that it is an Irish ‘thing’. Bear baiting is a Russian ‘thing’ or at least East European, but is it morally correct?
The second point is the at best mismanagement (at least I hope that is all it was) of this matter. The terms ‘fairness and equality’ are watchwords in Sinn Féin. I salute Councillor Ó Súilleabháin, Ms Reilly and Ms Berry for bringing to the attention of the party how far  it has shifted away from these concepts and hope this is purely an aberration rather than an Ard Fheis becoming a back -slapping meeting of only those who think alike.
Manus McDaid
Derry