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Gormley Lays Down the Gauntlet

RISE! responds as Gormley lays down the gauntlet
Posted on June 18, 2010 by Rural Ireland Says Enough!
What is happening?

The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley TD, has laid down the gauntlet ‘big time’ to the RISE! Campaign.

The Campaign has decided on a series of initiatives to defeat his proposals and prevent him achieving his stated aim of bringing the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill and the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill into law before the middle of July.

RISE! responds as Gormley lays down the gauntlet
Posted on June 18, 2010 by Rural Ireland Says Enough!
What is happening?

The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley TD, has laid down the gauntlet ‘big time’ to the RISE! Campaign.

The Campaign has decided on a series of initiatives to defeat his proposals and prevent him achieving his stated aim of bringing the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill and the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill into law before the middle of July.

Gormley has availed of the recent period of political uncertainty to start pushing his proposal through the Dáil and Seanad.

Wildlife (Amendment) Bill

Next Thursday 24th June at 7.30 pm the Dáil will begin debating the Bill to ban the Ward Union Hunt and to severely restrict deerstalking. It will come back to the Dáil on Wednesday, 30th June. The Taoiseach has backed Gormley to allow him to ‘guillotine’ the debate (that is, they will prevent TDs from speaking even if they want to) so that the Bill will be finished in the Dáil on Wednesday 30th. After that, it will go to the Seanad and it looks like Gormley and Cowen’s guillotine will be wielded there as well to get in passed in short order.

Dog Breeding Establishments Bill

The Seanad finally passed this Bill last Wednesday 16th June. It is now ready to go to the Dáil to be finalised. Gormley has bought off backbench Fianna Fáil opposition to the Bill by proposing a few weak amendments that are entirely unacceptable to RISE! and to all its affiliated organisations. Do not be conned by FF representatives telling you that ‘there are substantial amendments to the Dog Breeding Bill’.

Our response

RISE! is responding with a comprehensive and integrated series of initiatives. These will highlight the case against both the Wildlife Bill and the Dog Breeding Bill. They are set out below in the order in which they are happening.

Information Night, 8.30 pm Wednesday 23rd June, Simonstown GFC, county Meath

This has changed from being an Information Night into a show of strength to kick off this phase of our campaign. Prominent speakers from different backgrounds will show their support.

Demo outside the Dáil, 7 – 9pm, Thursday 24th June

To coincide with the start of the Dáil debate, there will be a demo outside the Dáil from 7pm to 9pm. Apart from lobbying TDs, this is important to achieve coverage on the TV and radio bulletins as well as in the newspapers the following day.

Major rally in Trim, county Meath, 12 Noon, Saturday 26th June

The people of Meath, Dublin and surrounding counties are invited to a rally in Trim to publicly demonstrate their support for the Campaign including an important part of their local heritage, the Ward Union Hunt.

Demo outside the Dáil, all day, Wednesday 30th June

To coincide with the end of the Dáil debate, there will be a relay of RISE! supporters outside Leinster House while the Bill is being debated. Again, this puts moral pressure on the TDs and helps to gain media coverage.

County Information Nights

These will continue. More than twenty have been organised. Check www.risecampaign.ie for updates